Although The Zimbabwean could not establish the number of people who cast their vote at Chikurubi Support Unit, long winding queues were visible the whole day while voter apathy hit neighbouring Mabvuku-Tafara constituency.
Reports from people residing in the camp indicate that senior police officers had been forcing people to go and vote for the draft constitution.
“Today it was a must go for everyone. Several meetings had been addressed by senior police officers in charge of the camp. They openly warned residents that those who would not vote for the draft faced eviction from the camp,” one resident who refused to be named for fear of reprisals said.
The source said similar force would be used in the camp to get people to vote for Zanu (PF) in the next election.
Residents have already been ordered to register as voters and produce registration evidence, reportedly from an order by Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri.
While polling agents were kept busy at Chikurubi, Mabvuku-Tafara, one of Harare’s oldest high density suburbs had low voter turnout with several voters being turned away, most of them aliens.
At Jonny Tapedza Open Space and Mabvuku Primary School polling stations, voters were trickling in at distant intervals the whole day with the situation getting worse at the close of business.
Some residents in Mabvuku said they had nothing to vote for because they had not seen the draft constitution while others said they were not even aware of what was going on.
It was business as usual in Mabvuku-Tafara.
The Zimbabwean could not establish the actual voter statistics in the constituency with officials from the Command Centre referring all questions to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the authority in charge of elections in Zimbabwe.
Independent election observer group, Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network said voting was conducted peacefully throughout the country.
“ We are yet to get the full details from provinces but generally voting was done peacefully,” said Solomon Zwana, ZESN Chairperson.
Post published in: News