(Last Updated on December 5, 2015 by Editor)
The conference is set to run between December 7 and 13, with over 6 000 delegates expected to attend.
One of the memos, seen by NewsDay, shows that the party was soliciting for donations from all government workers based in Beitbridge. Some of the workers described the demand as tantamount to extortion.
“Subject: Request for financial contributions towards the Zanu PF conference,” the memo allegedly written by Notious Tarisai read in part.
“Following a meeting attended recently concerning the above subject matter, all staff members are requested to pay $5 each by the pay date, ie 27/11/15, towards the Zanu PF conference.”
However, Tarisai, who is said to be assistant regional immigration officer and whose phone number reflected on the memo, yesterday distanced himself from the document.
“That is not possible. Send me a copy of that letter. I strongly suspect it is someone who is up to something and using my name. I did not write that letter, not at all. Is there a signature on the letter you are talking about?” he asked.
Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo also said: “There is nothing like that, who wrote the so-called letters? As far as I know, that is not a party position. Check if the letters are signed by anyone who is a party official.”
However, Vice-Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko are on record pleading for donations in cash and kind from party members and the corporate world to bankroll the event whose budget is estimated at $3 million.
Both Mnangagwa and Mphoko made the passionate pleas during the two fundraising dinners held in Harare and Bulawayo where they raised slightly above $1 million.
The party has also extended its begging bowl to the Christian community targeting the United Family International Church led by Emmanuel Makandiwa and the Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries led by Walter Magaya.
Party members have also intensified the sale of portrait pictures of its luminaries among them President Robert Mugabe, First Lady Grace Mugabe, Mnangagwa and the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo, among others, to raise funds for the indaba.