Civic groups target youths in voter awareness

Local News
They made the call during a post by-election round table meeting held at Bulawayo Club hosted by the Community Podium and Centre for Innovation and Technology in Bulawayo on Monday.

BY STAFF REPORTER CIVIC groups have called for increased voter education awareness targeting mainly youths who constitute the majority of the country’s voting population.

They made the call during a post by-election round table meeting held at Bulawayo Club hosted by the Community Podium and Centre for Innovation and Technology in Bulawayo on Monday.

National Youth Development Trust director Sibusisiwe Dube said it was worrying that young people were not participating in electoral processes.

“It is regrettable that some young people were not aware that there were by-elections. I think we have been going to the wrong places trying to talk to them. They go to places such as pubs and moving forward we should consider going to those places where most of them are found,” Dube said.

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association secretary for administration Thembelani Dube said: “There is need to synchronise processes of acquiring an identity document with voter registration.

“If someone obtains an ID, they should automatically be registered to vote. Most youths do not have the patience to wait in long queues to register to vote.”

Ekhaya Vote spokesperson Nkosikhona Dibiti said the majority of eligible voters were turned away because they did not have proper identity documents.

Women’s Institute for Leadership Development programmes manager Permanent Ngoma said there was need for continuous voter education.

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