MDC goes door-to-door

Some officials at the Registrar General’s offices have been accused of trying to frustrate perceived MDC supporters from registering to vote. The police recently arrested members of the party in Harare’s Hatcliff suburb where they were carrying out the campaign. They are due to appear in court on charges of impersonating public officials.

Those are some of the issues the MDC-T is trying to address.

MDC-T Youth Assembly chairman for South Africa, Giyani Dube, who is also one of the party’s aspiring parliamentary candidates for Mpopoma, recently told The Zimbabwean that the campaign, launched two weeks ago, had exposed a number of tricks being played by some Zanu (PF)-aligned officials.

“Most people have not yet registered because they have been misinformed by the officials and it is clear that Zanu (PF) has been calling for quick elections so that voters will miss out,” said Dube. “Some people, especially the youth, are being turned away or told the registration process has closed.”

Zanu (PF) has previously accused the younger generation of trying to “reverse the gains of the liberation struggle” by supporting the MDC and Dube said this had translated to the registration process.

“Many have been thrown into confusion and others have been frustrated into quitting the process because they have been given conflicting information on what is really going on.

“We are therefore, trying to correct this and push them to register, while also confronting the officials to ensure that all those with the correct documents are registered.”

Dube said some people had been turned away because their proof of residence was “not well-structured” by their landlords.

“In Mpopoma, we have a team of 46 people that will visit every household and check if people are registered and make sure that those who are not registered do so urgently,” he said.

“We also want to challenge information people have been fed by the state broadcaster (ZBC) and the state-run press. Our main aim is to get an increased number of first-time voters to participate in this election.”