The ZAPU leader, Dumiso Dabengwa, proposed last week that the present roll be scrapped and a fresh start made. “In 30 days, we can queue at ZEC centres across the country and have our names and all necessary details captured. That time frame is effective and does not even impinge on expected dates for the next elections. Why should ZEC keep on patching the old voters’ roll which has been in existence for over three decades? No amount of patching it will satisfy us or make us view it as credible. The elections body should simply come up with a new roll. In other countries that is happening,” Dabengwa told The Zimbabwean.
The current roll contains hundreds of thousands of names of “voters” who have been dead for years as well as many thousands over 100 years old, thousands residing at the same, or non-existent, addresses, thousands with the same name, registered on the same day and thousands of soldiers registered using a defence headquarters Post Bag address as their residence.
The Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Rita Makarau, recently admitted that the current voters’ roll is in a bad state and needs cleaning up to ensure credible polls. She conceded that some registered voters have had their names deleted on the voters’ roll without their knowledge.
Last month, Vice President Joice Mujuru discovered that only nine people from her village were registered as voters – unearthing further irregularities associated with the voters’ roll.
Zimbabwe Election Support Network Chairperson Solomon Zwana has consistently maintained that a clean voters’ roll is critical for free and fair elections and called for the issue should be given the attention it deserves.
“The issue of a voters’ roll is a question of democracy that we have to answer as a country. Just like in any other country, a clean voter’s roll is critical. If things are done according to the book, then we might have a clean voters’ roll before the elections,” said Zwana.
Political analyst Ibbo Mandaza expressed optimism that the new constitution would pave the way for a new and credible voter’s roll. “In my view, the current provisions that there should be intensive voter registration followed by inspection were precisely driven by suspicions over the current voters’ roll. So clearly, those who drafted the Constitution and the Electoral Law were aware of these complaints. Those who are trying to avoid that process obviously want the voters’ roll to remain as it is,” said Mandaza.
Gabriel Shumba, chairman of the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, said the faulty roll had been used by Zanu (PF) to rig several previous elections. “This roll has more than 50,000 names of dead people on it. Just before the constitutional referendum, we had over 1 million new names added during the Registrar General’s chaotic registration exercise,” he said.
He also said it was vital that the registration exercise be extended to the millions of Zimbabweans forced by economic and political hardships to live in the diaspora. “We do have enough time to do that this time around. So forget about the Constitutional Court ruling,” he said.
Post published in: News