The voting process at most centres in the satellite town started around mid- day after the election directorate failed to start the exercise earlier due to chaotic organisation. Some polling stations were not opened at all.
Disgruntled supporters braved the chilly weather at most centres and vowed to wait until they had cast their vote arguing that they wanted to ‘do away with manipulative, yet useless politicians’.
At Unit L community hall, a lot of people could be seen milling around the centre while the voting process was taking place at a snail’s pace.
A vendor at Unit L market near the polling centre attributed the high voter turn out to the party’s move which extended voting rights to ‘everyone’.
She said: “Even if you are not within their party structures, we are reliably informed that we can vote.
“We are here because we were given $20 incentives, and because of the confusion here, it is true that we can vote,” she said.
Zanu (PF) party chairman Simon Khaya Moyo yesterday said the party’s primary elections had been extended to 12 pm today because the party had experienced a huge voter turn- out.
He confirmed that failure to commence and conclude the primaries by yesterday was because the party had experienced logistical problems.
Moyo urged polling stations with limited voting material to improvise but warned; “this should be done in a transparent manner”.
The voting process in Ward 5 in St Mary’s constituency started around 11 am although The Zimbabwean established that supporters had arrived at the voting centre as early as 07 am.
Zanu (PF) supporters vowed to stay put at the polling centre in Ward 5 arguing that they were not going to go home until they had voted.
Around 21:00 pm, the elderly and women carrying babies on their backs had wrapped themselves in blankets and could be seen at the voting centre as they patiently waited for their turn to cast their votes.
One youth identified as Taurai said: “The voting process is painfully slow. We have been here since 08:00 am but we have not yet voted.”
He said he had taken a break in the afternoon but he felt obliged to vote because he wanted to make sure that the right candidate represents the party.
“Nothing is going to frustrate me because if I leave this place, then it means I have allowed someone to impose a candidate to represent me,” he said.
Edwin Ndawala bemoaned the verification of voters procedure and said the party should have availed voting ink as a way of speeding up the voting process and safeguarding against vote rigging.
He said: “As it is, I can go and vote elsewhere. Some of the names that are appearing on the voters roll for this constituency belong to people that we do not even know. This reflects that the process is not transparent.”
At Unit L community hall, disgruntled voters, whose names did not appear on the party’s voters roll accused the election directorate of vote rigging.
A woman from Unit M in Seke who refused to be identified said: “They cannot tell me that my name is not on the party’s voters roll after I registered and inspected the roll before this exercise. They are joking and I am not going anywhere until I have voted.”
At the party’s offices in Zengeza 4, voters could be seen milling around the premises as late as 20:00 pm as they waited for their turn to cast their vote.
Party supporters who had failed to vote during the day were jostling with the working class who had failed to take part during the course of the day as they were engaged at their various workplaces.
One voter expressed concern at the slow pace with which the election directorate were handling voters.
One youth asked: “How many people are we voting for? These elections should have been done earlier instead of rushing everything to beat the nomination court deadline. It is not feasible. We are already late.”
At the party's 'bases' in Unit D and J in Seke, the voting process was well organised although it started in the afternoon.
One party member revealed that during the constitutional referendum, party members recorded all the names of voters from the respective constituencies as part of the party's preparations for the primaries.
"That exercise we conducted during the constitutional referendum addressed all this. We have mobilised the community to come and vote even those who are not card carrying members," said a party member who declined to be named.
He revealed that the primary elections were extended to everyone after realising that in most constituencies, the party did not have structures and this was going to present a lot of challenges in nominating party representatives for the forthcoming elections.
Post published in: News