She was speaking in Harare on Tuesday at a meeting with the media.
“The commission is concerned that the voters’ roll may not be in the shape that it ought to be in before the harmonised elections.
“In particular, the commission is concerned that people who lawfully registered as voters in a particular ward may have found their names removed from the roll of that ward without their knowledge,” she said.
She added: “It is on the basis of this grave concern that ZEC is calling upon each and every one of the registered voters to inspect the voters’ roll during the 30 day voter registration exercise and bring to our attention any anomalies that they may pick up regarding their registration,” Makarau said.
She, however, said that ZEC was ready to hold elections by 31 July as stipulated by a recent Constitutional Court ruling.
“ZEC is ready, provided we get the proclamation of the election date by the President. If the election date is proclaimed to be 31 July, then we will be ready,” she said.
She said that ZEC was aware of complaints raised by people regarding names being removed and then replaced and others being deleted for various reasons.
Makarau said that her commission promised and undertook to direct the Registrar of Voters to correct any anomalies brought to its attention.
She said that a credible voters’ roll was critical for the polls.
“It is trite that a credible electoral process begins with a credible voters’ roll which is acceptable to all stakeholders,” Makarau said.
According to the ZEC boss, the commission would be meeting with political parties and civic as well as faith based organisations to receive concerns on the state of the roll.
She admitted that the mobile voter registration exercise between 29 April and 19 March was fraught with gaps, among them inadequate funding, lack of publicity, difficulties in utilising a sworn affidavit recently introduced in proving residence and lack of clarity on changes for status for some citizens born of foreign parents.
Post published in: News