South African billionaire Robert Gumede is said to have been one of the main funders of the Zanu-PF election machinery that delivered victory for president-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Sources close to the IT mogul told the Sunday Times that the millions that Gumede donated were used to buy about 100 bakkies and two trucks with public announcement systems. But Gumede himself denied on Friday having funded Zanu-PF. He said he knew about the vehicles in question, but had not paid for them.
According to the Political Parties Finance Act, parties and candidates in Zimbabwe are barred from receiving donations from foreigners and face stiff penalties if they do so.
Mnangagwa's spokesperson, George Charamba, denied that the campaign was funded by Gumede. "In our country, in terms of our own laws, foreign funding of political processes is illegal."But he confirmed that Mnangagwa met Gumede "frequently" during the campaign, "not as a funder but as a businessman who intends to invest in Zimbabwe".
One of the meetings was at a government agricultural event in Gwanda on June 22, which Charamba said Gumede had attended due to having investment interests in the sector. "He came from that perspective … he shared a helicopter ride with the president-elect."
The vehicles were branded in Zanu-PF colours and delivered to Zimbabwe in April. The trucks were used as makeshift stages at Zanu-PF rallies.
Gumede, chairperson of the Guma Group, which has interests in IT, tourism, energy, mining and property development, provided similarly equipped vehicles for the ANC during its 2016 election campaign in SA, and Mnangagwa's campaign staff took an interest when they spotted the vehicles at the ANC's birthday celebrations in East London in January.
Zanu-PF went into this week's election with a war chest estimated at $200m. Each of its aspiring MPs were given $10,000 in campaign funds, a vehicle and free fuel.The party spent about $20,000 a month on billboards across the country, featuring images of Mnangagwa and his campaign slogan "Zimbabwe is open for business".
Zanu-PF's yellow and green colours festooned every corner of Harare. The party took out full-page colour adverts in all daily and weekly newspapers and had jingles made in support of Mnangagwa.
A video that purports to show Gumede and Mnangagwa celebrating the handover of some of the vehicles earlier this year has surfaced.
In January Gumede, who has been doing business in Zimbabwe for over a decade, was among the first business people to visit the country following the ousting of Robert Mugabe by the military in November.
He pledged he was ready to invest R15bn to help Mnangagwa's government achieve its "short-term goals of turning around the economy".
At the time, Gumede said he believed the good times were back for Zimbabwe, and that as an investor he couldn't wait.
An insider close to Gumede, who made his first fortune from the Gijima Group - which secured government contracts after the 1994 transition - said the Mpumalanga billionaire decided to get involved in Mnangagwa's campaign after opposition leader Nelson Chamisa appeared to be gaining momentum in the elections race.
"He had to step in because he has interests in Zimbabwe," said the source.
"Mnangagwa needed to mount a serious campaign and that is where we stepped in," the source said.
Within hours of the election results being announced this week, Chamisa, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance, said the vote had been rigged to thwart the will of the people.
"We have so much evidence and we are going to be challenging the result," he said.But Mnangagwa insisted voting had been peaceful and transparent. "Our democratic process for the first time was open to the world like never before."
Chamisa said he believed he had received 56% of the vote, in spite of official results putting his share at 44.3% and Mnangagwa's at 50.8%. Mnangagwa was confirmed by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission as the winner.
Commission chair Priscilla Chigumba said Mnangagwa, who replaced Mugabe when he was ousted, received 2,460,463 votes and had avoided a run-off vote by securing a majority of more than 50%.
Zanu-PF took most of the rural vote while the MDC overwhelmingly took urban areas.
Chamisa urged Mnangagwa to be "honest and sincere with the way that the election has come out".
He said: "Even if we are to go to the courts, we have so much evidence and we are going to be challenging the result."He would produce the evidence at the "appropriate time", Chamisa told the Sunday Times.
"This was poorly done rigging. At least Robert Mugabe was a sophisticated fraudster, but this one [Mnangagwa] is so pedestrian."
President Cyril Ramaphosa, current chair of the Southern African Development Community, was among the first to recognise Mnangagwa's victory.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said both sides had to "respect the choice" of the people.
Mnangagwa offered an olive branch to Chamisa after the results were announced. "The campaign was hard-fought and at times competitive, as it should be," he said, but Chamisa now had a "crucial role" to play.
He had sent several senior officials to speak to the opposition leader and remind him of the peace pledge they signed before the poll, Mnangagwa said.
- Additional reporting by Ray Ndlovu and Mzilikazi wa Afrika..