No voter registration hassles in rural centres

Politics
AS people in urban centres struggled to register as voters for the impending harmonised elections, those in rural areas were getting “first class treatment

AS people in urban centres struggled to register as voters for the impending harmonised elections, those in rural areas were being given “first class treatment”, in most cases registering in record time.

REPORT BY PHYLLIS MBANJE AND NUNURAI JENA

MDC-T draws most of its support from urban areas while Zanu PF controls rural areas.

Visits by The Standard news crew to some rural areas in Mashonaland East and Central established that people had no hassles registering as voters or acquiring new identity cards.

People turned up in their numbers at Mabika and Manjonjo Primary Schools in Murewa ward 28 on Thursday but were served in record time.

Many expressed satisfaction with the service except for those who did not have the required documents.

Bernard Majiga, a 26-year-old subsistence farmer who registered at Mabika School in Mashonaland East province, said he was impressed with the service rendered.

“I was the fourth person here. Being the first day, I was afraid that there would be a long queue but by 8am I was done,” said Majinga.

The registration centres opened at 7am.

“We have been served a long time ago, but we are just waiting for our colleagues. We did not encounter any problems,” said one woman who was relaxing under a tree after she had registered as a voter at the school.

There was a sizeable number of elderly people who also wanted to register, some with walking difficulties and communication challenges as well as hearing problems.

But this did not deter them.

Mbuya Rundende drew laughter from the crowd when she tried unsuccessfully to pronounce the word affidavit.

So eager was she to register she did not seem to mind the sniggers from the crowd when she said “Ndokumbirawo vitavit iroro iro” (May I also have that affidavit).

Once served, she waved her spindly arms and did a “jig-jig” dance.

Mashonaland East has 113 registration centres while Harare and Chitungwiza only have 25 centres.

Many people are failing to register in Harare in what the MDC formations said was a well-orchestrated ploy by Zanu PF to frustrate the urban voters their right to cast the ballot.

At another registration centre at Manjonjo Primary School, there was a large turnout, but the queue also moved fast.

However, The Standard noticed that the villagers had a separate list of names and each prospective voter was required to record their names before going to register as voters.

A teacher at Mabika School, who requested anonymity, said they were forced to attend numerous Zanu PF meetings where they had been told to go and register in their numbers.

“There is a very thin line between merely urging people to come and threatening them indirectly,” said the teacher. “In one of the meetings, the villagers were told that if the ruling party lost they would know that people had not registered.”

There were reports that Zanu PF officials provided transport and food to people who wanted to register as voters in some provinces. Some villagers in Marondera, Hurungwe and Kwekwe claimed that they were forced by Zanu PF youths to participate in the voter registration process.

In Chinhoyi residents accused the Register-General‘s office of deliberately trying to frustrate them by making them wait in queues for long hours.

One resident, Peter Mafuta, said the officials who were registering were very slow. He said many people would fail to register by the time registration process ends this week.

There were no officers at some centres as advertised, leaving villagers stranded and not knowing what to do.

The centres which had no officers included Ndudza Primary school and Strathdon primary schools in Zvimba district, but they had been advertised in the Press as registration centres.

Efforts to get a comment from Zanu PF spokesperson Rugabe Gumbo were fruitless yesterday.

But Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede has dismissed the reports that people are purposely being turned away.

He said those who had the proper requirements were being served.

Mudede accused the chief secretary in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s office, Ian Makone of peddling lies that people were being turned away from a mobile voter registration centre at Shumba Clinic in Goromonzi.

He said investigations carried out by his provincial office had proved that the allegations were baseless.

Meanwhile, a group of war veterans yesterday allegedly besieged the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) Drop-In Centre in Harare and disrupted meetings on the right to access information on elections.

The meeting was being held in collaboration with the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe.

“A group of eight war veterans besieged the meetings and demanded that CHRA volunteers and staff immediately close the offices,” said CHRA in a statement yesterday.

“CHRA would like to inform all members of the public, partners and members that the office will be temporarily closed down until the situation normalises for the safety of our members.”

Efforts to get a comment from police spokesperson Charity Charamba proved fruitless yesterday.