ZESN concerned over possible disenfranchisement of aspiring voters

In its preliminary findings of the second round of the mobile voter registration exercise, ZESN noted that in some areas, there has been an overwhelming response from aspiring voters with doubts remaining on whether they will all be served in the three days that have been allocated per district.

This month, Registrar General, Tobaiwa Mudede, revealed that his office had decided to set up voter registration centres in the districts instead of wards.

He said officers from his office would limit their visits to three days per ward with voters being compelled to visit their districts for the registration process.

"Our preliminary findings show varying levels of interests with some centres facing more numbers than can be managed in three days allocated. This means some centres will fail to register the numbers of people wishing to do so within the three days allocated to a particular centre.

"For example, in Zvimba South at Trelawney Training Centre, on the second day ZESN observed an estimate of 500 people who were in the queue seeking various documentation including registering to vote. In Mutoko District, ZESN teams visited Chisambiro, Chidye, Kamwazva and Ushamba Primary Schools where long queues were also observed," said ZESN in a statement released today.

The statement said that in the above areas, as well as in Harare, the process was very slow.

This, ZESN said, had resulted in frustration among people wishing to register to vote.

ZESN said that at Mpopoma Community Hall in Bulawayo, some people who voted in 2008 could not find their names on the voters' roll. The affected people, were however allowed to register again, according to ZESN.

ZESN said that the deployment of personnel from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was not in accordance with demand in some areas.

"In Harare, long queues were also observed at Huruyadzo Shopping Centre in St Marys and Mai Musodzi Hall in Mbare, potential registrants continued to lament the slowness of the pace at which people were being processed in these centres.

"There was a problem between the allocations of the ZEC personnel to the potential registration such as Cranborne with 10 personnel yet the demand was not as high as areas stated above. ZESN urges ZEC to deploy more personnel in high density areas and certain rural areas with higher population," read the statement.

The statement noted that aspiring voters are having to walk long distances to register in some areas.

"With regards to the issue of aliens, ZESN noted that potential registrants were referred back to the RG's office in their districts in order for them to address certain issues such as long birth certificates with no ID numbers and in some instances they were asked to surrender their original id cards and re-join the queue to get new ids, then wait to collect new ones and then re-join a queue to register to vote," read the statement.

ZESN urged ZEC to ensure problems regarding the issue of aliens are solved to avoid their disenfranchisement.