The Constitution Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) in charge of the outreach exercise, met with the United Nations Development Programme on Monday, looking for an additional $8 million for its outreach, but it was reportedly turned down.

COPAC officials said after the meeting that donors had refused to fund the additional 25 days they were requesting in order to extend the program in Harare and Bulawayo. Meetings in the country's two largest cities had been cancelled due to suspicions that ZANU PF elements were planning to pack them with their supporters in order to influence the outcome.

But COPAC co-chairperson Douglas Mwonzora said the Treasury had released more funds for the constitutional outreach exercise, but would not specify the amount.

Teams are now expected in Bulawayo and Harare on September 18 and 19.

Mangwana told NewsDay that the committee would ask all provincial teams to increase the number of meetings from one to two per day, so that more ground could be covered.

The outreach program has been beset by management problems from the very beginning. Teams have failed to get fuel for travel to rural areas and funds to pay for accommodation and food. A serious issue has been the lack of a system to account for the funds that were already dispersed, and donors have been concerned about this.

Njabulo Ncube, assistant Editor at The Financial Gazette, explained that Zimbabweans were not surprised because they have been aware that the outreach exercise was riddled with mismanagement, intimidation and violence. "This is what bankrollers do not like to see. It is like pouring money down a deep, deep, pool," said the financial writer.

Ncube added: "The donors were watching and they knew the process was not transparent in the way money was being managed, the allegations of people being coached, and they felt that the agreement that they signed with COPAC had been violated. This is why they said no."