Treat elections as a process, govt told
By Thandeka Matebesi
Civil Society Organizations have said there is need for authorities to treat the elections as a process which is continuous and not as an event.
Speaking during a radio program on Radio Zimbabwe on Thursday, Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) Monitoring and Observation Officer Mr Rekai Rusinga said that voter registration was an essential part of the election process and democracy.
“Registering is important because of various reasons. After registration one can participate in the voting process and choose a leader they want. In some countries it is mandatory for people to vote, failure to comply attracts a jail term”, said Rusinga.
Rusinga also said that there were a number of challenges that needed to be addressed for the elections to be fair and transparent and fair.
“We noticed quite a number of things since we started our work in 2000 that the authorities need to work on. We see that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is not giving the voters roll to political parties and the other relevant parties in time so that they make the necessary corrections.
When people are notified or have seen the role they should be allowed and assisted to make the corrections to their details so that they are able to vote.
Proof of residence is also a problematic issue as most people have to get proof of residence from traditional leaders such as headmen who sometimes refuse to stamp the letters due to a myriad of reasons”, said Rusinga.
Rural Communities Empowerment Trust Coordinator Mr Vumani Ndlovu said the elections process is a big challenge in rural areas due to lack of identification documents.
An election is not an event, but a process which should be treated as such. There should be mobile voter registration and education. Organizations and political parties should not only be overly active in the final month of the elections.
“In rural areas it is difficult because the village heads sometimes withhold stamping the proofs of residence saying they do not have ink or simply because they do not feel like stamping. Also people in mostly Matabeleland do not have national identity documents so they always fail to register. These are challenges that need to be addressed before the next election whilst there is time”, said Ndlovu.
