Their battle is being mainly fought at the Registrar General’s office, where long queues, indifferent personnel, lack of knowledge and cumbersome demands are the order of the day.
The 12th amendment to the Citizenship Act in 2001outlawed dual citizenship, effectively rendering Zimbabweans with origins in mainly Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique stateless.
According to the new constitution, there are certain prerequisites that need to take place before any election is conducted, among them a comprehensive voter registration exercise. The new supreme law calls for a 30-day voter registration and inspection exercise prior to any election.
At the Market Square RG’s offices, they are only taking 30 people per day for new national identification documents, while those seeking to replace their birth certificates have a two-week wait.
No payments are charged but the process is very slow and intimidating. At the National Employment Council RG’s office they only see 120 people a day, almost half the number of people who turn up on a daily basis.
Vimbai Whisky (23), who was queuing at the National Employment Council, said she arrived at 5am and was number 140. They never took her papers.
“When I went to register as a voter, I was told that must first change my National ID. I want to register but since I stay in Mabvuku I cannot be here by 4am, it’s too far. I do not think I will make it before July 10. In Mabvuku, the outreach team only came for two days and they referred us to Market Square, here or Makombe Building to get IDs,” she said.
Richard Kanungo (30) of Budiriro, said when he came to get a new citizen ID he was referred to Market Square for a new birth certificate.
“I slept at the National Employment Council offices and was number 30 but they refused to process my ID saying that my birth certificate was soiled and I should get a new one.
“I came to Market Square and they said I should go to Chivu where I initially got my birth certificates but I do not have bus fare to do that. That means I will not vote this time around,” he said.
MDC-T spokesperson, Douglas Mwonzora acknowledged that there had been incidents of intimidation, irregularities within the voters’ roll and difficulties with the mobile voter registration exercise.
“We have a far improved set of circumstances which should pave the way for a more reliable and consistent process for future elections,” recently wrote Mwonzora in his column in The Zimbabwean.
Post published in: News