Women voters whose identity documents did not match their husbands’ names were turned away despite providing identity documents with their maiden surnames.
At Unit L shopping centre polling station in Ward 18, Chitungwiza North, 67 year old Sarah Rusamu had been to at least four polling centres in the area searching for her name on the voters roll only to find it appearing with her husband’s surname: Muzinyi.
She expressed bitterness at the development.
“They have practically disenfranchised me,” said Rusamu.
“All these years, I have been voting only to be told at such a crucial election that I cannot vote,” she said, revealing that she regretted all the time spent trying to find her name on the voters’ roll.
She accused the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission of failing to educate the electorate on such an important adjustment on the voters roll.
“They should have given us ample time to check for our names in the voters’ roll to avoid this. My marriage certificate is in the rural areas and there is no way I can make it to and fro before they close,” said a visibly disgruntled Rusamu.
According to a pre- election report by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, insufficient reforms were undertaken during the life of the inclusive government at the level of the ZEC secretariat and the registrar general’s office to ensure institutional and individual independence, effectiveness, efficiency and public confidence.
“The ZEC displayed a general sense of unwillingness to accept assistance in the process of voter education, despite the substantive changes to our electoral system and the confusion that abounded in the wake of the fast track election date,” read the report.
At Seke 7 primary school, another registered voter who refused to be identified but was turned away because her name was no longer on the voters’ roll despite voting in the 2008 elections, told The Zimbabwean that the possibility that her name was no longer on the roll because she had changed to her husband’s name was very high.
“I wed my husband in 2011 and changed my surname. I am no longer on the voters’ roll although I went to the registrar general to register as a voter soon after getting my marriage certificate,” she said.
She accused ZEC of exhibiting double standards by purporting that they were ready for elections yet they had not rectified such pertinent issues on the voters’ roll.
“People should know why their names are not on the voters’ roll. The responsible body should explain why people’s names are erased without death certificates,” she said.
ZEC and the registrar general’s office yesterday failed to avail an updated version of the electronic voters roll, a move which was described by the Movement for Democratic Change as a deliberate ploy to ‘manipulate’ the whole electoral process.
Before the elections, the President of the MDC-T, Morgan Tsvangirai called on ZEC to either ‘shape up or ship out’, accusing the electoral body of being ill prepared for elections.
Post published in: News