On Monday, Tobaiwa Mudede told the Parliamentary portfolio committee for Defence and Home Affairs that they had decided to set up registration centres in the districts instead of the wards.
The new constitution, however, directs that the voter registration exercise be carried out over 30 days and should be ward based. Officers from the RG’s office, he said, would limit their visits to three days per ward, with voters being compelled to visit district designated points for the remainder of the 30 day period mandated by the law.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network says the decision is going to disenfranchise a lot of people who are willing to register as voters because the district-based arrangement will make registration centres inaccessible.
The director, Rindai Chipfunde-Vava, said the decision to make the voter registration exercise district based would frustrate a lot of people. “The voters, particularly those in rural areas, can’t be inspired to go and register considering that the registration centres are by and large inaccessible”. Even in urban areas, registration points are too far apart. “We doubt that officers from the RG’s office will be there for the full 30 days as there will definitely be some days when they will not be at work. That means there will be non-compliance with the 30-day voter registration exercise as stipulated by the constitution,” she added.
The ZESN director expressed concern that the restriction of voter registration to districts would also affect inspection of the voters’ roll, raising fears that voters would not adequately ascertain if their details were properly captured.
The constitution requires that voters inspect the roll over 30 days, which ZEC and the RG had said would run concurrently with voter registration.
“We are not hearing much about this exercise. They should have placed adverts on TV and rolled out as much information as possible to ensure that voters are aware. Information is vital to ensure that as many people as possible register,” added Chipfunde-Vava. “It is disturbing that there are complaints from the RG that there is insufficient funding for voter registration. This exercise is probably the most important stage towards elections and certainly the most expensive, so government should have known better”. According to Tawanda Chimhini, the Director of the Election Resource Centre: “The deployment of the mobile voter registration process at the district level and not at a ward level fails to address the primary concern that has necessitated the mobile voter registration process, that of accessibility”.
He added: “The inability of the state to adequately avail funds for the process is a clear indication of the state of preparedness of Zimbabwe for a credible and transparent election process. Voter registration, in our view, is an election on its own and the same demands that we have placed for elections equally stand for the mobile voter registration process”. Chimhini said the country was lagging behind in terms of voter education, comparing Zimbabwe with Mozambique, which began the exercise well ahead of its election in November.
“The ideal would have been to deploy the voter education teams well in advance of the mobile registration process so that communities are prepared to participate in the process. Given the above, it only makes sense for the commission to immediately open space for civic society organisations to engage in voter education to improve reach given the limited time frame,” added Chimhini. ZEC has excluded civic society from voter education, saying it was biased in favour of certain political parties. A political analyst, Charles Mangongera, dismissed the district based exercise as a Zanu (PF) plot to exclude voters from the poll.
“This (district based registration) is a ploy to stop people from registering to vote. It is a way of frustrating people and will lead to a shame election that is certainly going to be disputed, leading to a crisis in the country.
At the time of going to print, The Zimbabwean observed that, even at district level, the RG had not deployed in some areas, meaning that it had already failed to comply with the 30-day demand for voter registration.
Voters in Mashonaland West and East, parts of the Midlands and Masvingo said they were not aware where they should go and register, but some say voter educators had visited local schools asking them to gather at designated venues for voter education. “I did not see them personally, but we have on heard that the voter educators will address soon. I have not heard where we should go and register,” said Shamiso Mvura from Chirumanzu in the Midlands by phone. In Harare, voters responded to the first day of the mobile exercise by turning out in big numbers, even though they complained of slow service. The first mobile voter registration exercise, carried out between April 29 and May 31, was criticised for lack of public awareness, arrogant personnel from the RG’s offices, excluding some areas and the slow pace at which officers operated, in addition to stringent requirements such as proof of residence.
Post published in: News