Zimbabwe cannot afford polls

DPA/Harare Zimbabwe cannot afford to hold elections next year, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said yesterday, and appealed to the international community. “The biggest challenge is funding the elections and the referendum. It is clear that our resources are not going to be enough,” said Biti. “The international community has to come in for assistance.” Biti, from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said that diamond revenues were still not reaching state coffers, amid allegations that the military is funneling cash to its own pockets and that of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party. A referendum on a new constitution was meant to take place this year but never materialised. The southern African nation is also to hold general elections in 2013, which should put an end to the fragile coalition government between the MDC and ZANU-PF, in place since 2009.