So we are always posting business advice, how to be successful in business, how to start a business, how to manage a business etc. Now one of our members said hey hold on-not everyone is born to be an entrepreneur, how about Politics as a Career?
Now we all know about this field, we are not going to give much advice except to analyse one area of interest to business and that is the COST of running for office. How much it will cost you to run and possibly win a parliamentary seat in Zimbabwe.
Most of the information we will use is publicly available. So just like any business, Politics is risky business and involves a lot of costs. We are not sure of the returns though, how politicians recoup most of the costs that they would have incurred.
The trend in Zimbabwe over the past elections has been that for one to win a seat, you must have worked extremely hard to attract potential voters. In the rural areas be prepared to repair roads, renovate schools, donate chickens, buy bicycles in order to stand a good chance of winning a seat. Be prepared to ferry members of the public to your rallies, you also need to feed them. You have to come up with various ‘incentives’ for your election agents or election promoters. Expect to spend a considerable amount of money on promotional materials such as tshirts and posters, you may even need to hire popular musicians to prop you up.
Now dear reader, doing all of this does not guarantee you a win-you can still lose despite a heavy investment in running for office-we have seen cases of politicians who go back to the constituencies where they lost to demand various goods and properties they would have ‘donated’.
In urban areas in the past there was no need for heavy investment in running for office. You just needed a few posters and a couple of rallies and be guaranteed of a win depending on the political party you would have aligned with. The trend however now shows that one needs heavy investment, it is no longer business as usual-the recent Norton Bye Election is a good case in mind.
So by now you must still be wondering, what is the actual cost of running for office? What is the figure? Our answer is that one needs at least US$80,000 to win a seat depending on the strategic location of the seat and the level of competition involved. It’s a game for the big boys and sisters, you will definitely need a big purse!
Publicly available information provided by Hon Themba Mliswa on an interview with Fingaz shows that he did spend above $80,000 and this figure does not include the use of his vehicles during the recent election. A similar figure was spend for another election that took place in Mashonaland West a few years back.
So there you have it dear folks, this figure is just a guide and may increase or decrease depending on political events or macro-economic events prevailing in the country at the time.
So we wish you all the best if you decide to run for office in 2018. Just remember that money alone will not win you votes but will play a pivotal role in ensuring your victory because case studies abounds of folks who went bankrupt after running for office.
