THEY remained seated in the sweltering heat, patiently edging forward once in a while as the queue meandered into the council offices in central Harare.
NEWS IN DEPTH BY PAIDAMOYO MUZULU
Vimbainashe Musiiwa and Aldridge Abafana Siwawa, both aged 19, were among the early birds as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) started the process of creating a fresh voters’ roll ahead of next year’s elections.
Musiiwa, a prospective first-time voter, said she was encouraged by her grandmother to register to vote at ZEC’s Remembrance Drive centre.
“I came here with my grandmother early in the morning around 7am after she asked me to come and register as a voter,” she said. “I have been here for the last three hours and the queue is moving slowly. However, I’m determined to be here until I’m registered.”
Musiiwa’s determination was apparent as she revealed that Friday’s visit to the Zec registration centre in Mbare was her second attempt inside two days.
“Yesterday [Thursday] I came but Zec officials said they had run out of the prescribed forms before I could register,” she added.
“I promised myself I would come back and here I am trying again.”
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Her story was not different from that of Siwawa from Malbereign.
“I came alone,” Siwawa said. “I am excited to exercise my right. I feel that my vote would make a difference in 2018. “I believe strongly that we should stop complaining if we are not willing to vote.”
The teenager was not deterred by the fact that he was at number 109 on the queue.
“I am not certain that I will be served today but I am ready to be here for the whole day till I am registered,” Siwawa added. “I would like to encourage other youths and first-time voters to go and register, especially those aged between 18 and 20 who are in Form 6 or first year college students.”
Musiiwa and Siwawa were not the only ones who had to endure long queues and many other glitches on the first week of the voter registration exercise that will run until January next year.
Zec rolled out the new biometric voter registration (BVR) system despite complaints by the country’s main opposition party, MDC-T, that the elections management body was not ready for the mammoth exercise.
Civil society groups and opposition political parties said the first week of the exercise was chaotic and they criticised Zec for making a provision for only 63 registration points throughout the country.
Election Resource Centre (ERC) executive director Tawanda Chimhini said a number of potential voters were turned away because they had no proof of residence.
“To worsen the matter,” Chimhini said, “ZEC has failed to allocate commissioners of oaths at some registration centres like Mbare to assist the potential registrants.”Chimhini urged ZEC to broaden the eligibility requirements, saying, “special measures are required to eliminate all barriers that are coming up with the requirement of the proof of residence.”
The ERC said ZEC had at some centres failed to provide the VR.9 forms required for proof of residence and the VR.1 or initial voter registration forms.
Chimhini, whose organisation assisted potential voters at some centres with the two forms, said the scarcity of the documents might result in the disfranchisement of potential voters.
MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu said the process was painstakingly slow and inefficient.
“For instance, at the Remembrance Drive district offices in Mbare, Harare, hundreds of aspiring voters had turned up as early as 6am on Wednesday morning,” he said.
“However, by mid-day, less than 50 people had been able to register as voters.”
Gutu said Zec should rise to the occasion if it wants the voter-registration exercise to be credible.
“The MDC would like to call upon Zec to urgently and immediately up their game if the BVR system is to be a success,” he added. “Only one BVR machine is being used at each and every registration centre and of course, this has caused unnecessary delays in the voter registration exercise.
“Zec has got a constitutional obligation to undertake a credible, efficient and transparent voter registration exercise but so far, the situation on the ground leaves a lot to be desired.”
at the moment, Zec has only taken delivery of 400 BVR kits out of the 3 000 ordered from their supplier, Laxton Group of China. The remaining 2 600 kits will only be delivered after Zec pays the purchase price in full.
Zec chairperson, Justice Rita Makarau is confident the commission will have all the kits by the beginning of October.
The Welshman Ncube-led MDC also had no kind words about the manner Zec was handling the voter registration process.
MDC spokesman Kurauone Chihwayi said the commission seemed ill-prepared for the programme, judging by the administrative chaos experienced at the registration centres.
“Reports from our observers across the country reveal that most of the setbacks experienced in the centres suggest that the registering officers are poorly equipped with knowledge of how to operate the BVR kits, exposing Zec’s incapacity to transparently and fairly run the 2018 general elections,” he said.
He said the slow process would also discourage many Zimbabweans who rely on informal trade for survival.
“The process is definitely not friendly to members of the community who have tight schedules like the self-employed and this may ultimately lead to their disenfranchisement as they give up on pursuing the process to completion,” Chihwayi said.
In the past, Zec has opened a few polling stations in urban areas while at the same time providing more to rural constituencies, fuelling speculation that it is a move biased towards Zanu PF.
Zanu PF enjoys more support in rural constituencies compared to urban areas.
Other political parties such as the People’s Democratic Party led by Tendai Biti said the chaos in the voter registration exercise was part of an elaborate plan to rig the polls in favour of Zanu PF.
“Some of the problems observed at various registration centres are not only a sign of being ill-prepared but in our view, a deliberate ploy between Zanu PF and Zec to frustrate Zimbabweans who want to vote against impunity, mediocrity and failure,” PDP spokesman Jacob Mafume said.
“Deploying three officers to a process which requires five cannot be a matter of being ill-prepared but a deliberate ploy to aid and abet the Zanu PF cause.”
Chimini said some of the voter-registration centres were not easily accessible.
“Accessibility of the process has been quite limited,” he said. “We definitely need to engage ZEC around how they can make more locations available for the public to access these locations.
“I think the demand is there, and ZEC must be seen to be providing more centres.
“The kits to set up more centres are available. Out of the 400 kits they have received, they have only deployed 63. “So certainly, there is room for ZEC to do more around this.”
However, despite the gloomy picture painted by the established political parties, independent parliamentary candidate Fadzayi Mahere remained optimistic that the electorate can still make a difference.
Mahere is organising a crowdfunding activity to help poor people in Harare’s Mt Pleasant to get transport to the only registration centre in Mbare.
Mahere has also sought the assistance of fellow lawyers to act as commissioners of oath for those who want to register but have difficulties in obtaining the required proof of residence.
* Additional reporting by Moses Chibaya
