Running political parties is expensive. Parties are complex organizations that need resources to pay staff salaries, run headquarters and regional offices, hold congresses, communicate with citizens, undertake research, develop policies, and stage electoral campaigns. Yet as Anthony Butler reminds us, money may be essential but it is also dangerous. Parties that gain disproportionate access to financial resources can buy votes, monopolize airtime during campaigns, dispense jobs and patronage to supporters, and outpace competitors. Within parties, factions can build war chests to distort internal democratic outcomes. Even more troubling is the intersection between money, corruption, and interest, for those who donate money to parties require a return, usually implicit or covert, in terms of policies which suit them or the grant of concessions, tenders or contracts. The power of money therefore often serves to crowd out the voices of ordinary members of parties and to marginalize the poor.

ZANU-PF, SWAPO, and the ANC have followed broadly similar trajectories with regard to party funding, having moved from a heavy dependence upon foreign sources during the pre-liberation era towards mixed funding regimes. These regimes – which reflect a worldwide trend away from reliance on subscriptions paid by ordinary party members – revolve around four basic elements. First, incumbency enables the NLMs to use the administrative and financial resources of the state – official cars, fares, office supplies, and state personnel – to underpin party capacities, particularly during electoral campaigns. This can extend to the illegal diversion of state funds into party coffers.