San community at risk of being disenfranchised at polls

 

Providence Moyo 

Nkosikhona Ndlovu is a member of the San Community in Sfulasengwe Ward 7 of Tsholotsho, under Chief Siposo, who bemoans the current state of voter registration for the upcoming 2023 elections.

Ndlovu says he understands his right of participating in elections but the district level registration system is bound to hinder him from exercising that right.

“Having registration centres at district level is a challenge because for me to be able to register to vote I have to use my  money and travel to the registration centre at a time when Covid 19 has rendered people jobless and poorer,” he said.

Ndlovu’s sentiments were shared by the Coordinator of Tsorotso San Development Trust, Christopher Ndlovu who resides in Gariya Ward 8 of Tsholotsho, who said the current electoral process and voter registration system in particular is likely to disenfrachise San communities from participating in the 2023 elections.

“We want to be part of the  elections but so far our inclusion is doubtful as we cannot access registration centres close to us as we have to source money to go to register in Tsholotsho Centre, which  personally, I cannot afford to, ” he said.

While pleading with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to decentralise the registration centres, Ndlovu underscored the need to address the San elderly community in their own language so that the elders may understand what is being said.

“Those who are above 60 years in this community understand Tswao better so, there has to be a mutual understanding between the community and those registering them, therefore a person who understands Tswao would be ideal to register the community,” he said. 

The distance between Tsholotsho centre and Sfulasengwe is 195 kilometers, and  between Gariya and Tsholotsho Centre, there is a distance of 187 kilometres to be traveled.

ZUPCO buses used to charge these communities a fare of $5 US dollars to get to Tsholotsho Centre. However, since intercity travel was banned as a mitigation strategy against the spread of Covid 19, private players emerged and are now charging  100 rands or anything equivalent at black market rates. 

Meanwhile, a senior officer at Election Resource Center (ERC), Solomon Bobosibunu said his organisation has tried to engage and advise the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) to decentralise registration centres.

“We have been trying to engage ZEC to decentralise registration centres but they are saying they do not have enough resources to cater for related costs and  they also argue that only a few people are showing interest in the registration process,” said Babosibunu . 

Babosibunu also added that the distance between registration centers and communities must not exceed 20 kilometers.

“Registration centers must not exceed 20 kilometers as long distances are bound to reduce the numbers of people registering to vote as some will be forced to use their own monies to go and register which  will not yield any positive results in relation to voter registration,” he said.

The District Elections officer for Tsholotsho Iwan Dube said he will work closely with traditional leaders  including village heads and organise communities to register those who want to vote.

“I will work closely with village heads and arrange dates so that I can go and register those who are willing to register to vote,”  Dube said.

Concerning a possible language barrier, Dube said it is very important to incorporate Tswao speaking officials but  very few people can understand the language. 

“I understand the need for them to be addressed in Tswao but the challenge is that only a few people in this country can understand the language hence it is going to be a challenge to find someone who will address them in their mother tongue,” said Dube.

He said a solution will be found for the San community as he highlighted the importance of San inclusion in the elections. He further suggested that if Tswao speaking officials are not found, Kalanga language could be used instead  as the two languages have similarities.

Dube said he could not provide statistics of those who  have registered to vote in Tsholotsho since ZEC is using an incremental system that makes it impossible to track those who have registered for 2023 elections.

San communities in Tsholotsho are mostly found in Gariya, Sanqinyana, Xhanxhani and Esfulasengwe.