By Dr Takafira Zhou.
That Zec is incompetent and facilitating the rigging of elections is a fact that no level headed Zimbabwean can deny. This can be proved beyond reasonable doubt at the briefest examination of facts in Mberengwa North.
1. Nine days to the watershed harmonised elections some wards still have no voters’ rolls. Ward 15 and ward 35 have not yet received their respective voters rolls. The respective councillors have been to the Mberengwa offices more than three times and I have also visited the offices more than three times, the latest being today. In spite of promises to provide the voters’ rolls the discs and replacement of discs sent have not been opening. Zec officials seem note to care about the urgency of providing voters’ rolls. It would seem Zec is trying to hide something and would provide such voters’ rolls on the eve of elections so that there would be no time to study the voters’ rolls.
2. The wards voters’ rolls provided are also in shambles. Although we are still studying them due to late provision of some wards’ voters’ rolls there have been shocking revelations.
3. People who died before compilation of voters’ rolls have found themselves in the voters’ rolls. A case in point is ward 11, number 81 (Dube Handa) and number 495 (Ngagla Konias). It is prudent to note that Zec claimed that the memory stick that contained all people who had registered at Cheshaga polling ststion had been lost and reregistered Cheshanga people from 19 to 29 May 2018. Sadly, dead people resurrected and reregistered. There is certainly something fishy in such lackadaisical Zec approach.
4. Zec has also lackadaisically multiplied one headman into two and entered mutiple registration of people. In ward 11 headman Chigigwa is also multiplied into Chigigo. Maphosa Taurungano is registered as number 271 under a fictitious headman Chigigo and registered as number 272 under heaman Chigigwa. The fictitious headman has several people registered under his jurisdiction such as number 171, 198, 201, 238, 342, 637, 640 etc
5. There are also other fictitious village heads like number 209 ward 11 and this brings doubt as to the existence of such people.
6. There are also Zvishavane Ngezi (ward 19) people registered to vote in Mberengwa North. Not surprisingly as much as only 16 people had registered at Rupemba polling station, there are now more than 90 people registered at that polling station. It is clear such people were conveniently created to justify the existence of such a polling station. There is certainly need for clarity over the Mberengwa North and Zvishavane Ngezi border.
In light of the above, it is our submission that Zec is deliberately withholding voters’ rolls for wards 15 and 35 so that we would not see other irregularities in them. Coincidentally, ward 15 is the same ward where I come from and Zec is aware it would be easy for me to identify fictitious names and any irregularities. Ward 35 is also a strategic ward in the resettlenent areas where fictious names could be used given its attraction to many artisanal miners (makorokosa) who are of no fixed abode. Under such circumstances the credibility of elections is doubtful and the chances of rigging very high. We want to reiterate our clarion call for free, fair, transparent and credible elections. This can only happen with timeous provision of voters’ rolls which sadly Zec is failing to do.
Dr Takavafira Zhou
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