Slow start to voter inspection exercise
Nqobile Ngwenya
Voter inspection in Hwange West Constituency began yesterday after a false start on 27 May, 2023 amid revelations that many registrants were turned away at most urban inspection centres as they were not appearing on the voter’s roll.
There was no one who turned up to inspect the voters roll at the Victoria Falls Airport inspection centre by the time of closing at 1700hrs. The largest Hwange West urban ward 11 had a handful of registrants responding while ward 7 in Chinotimba High Density surbub had less than 20 Voters who turned up for inspection despite the fact that voter educators are on the ground conscientising the electorate to go for inspection.
Voters at an open space near Water Works in Aerodrome, Victoria Falls said they have been voting at the centre for years but they were disappointed to find that their names are no longer appearing in the voter’s roll this year. The registrants said they checked using the USSD mobile platform code and they got the confirmation that their station is Water Works but to their chagrin, their names are not physically there on the voter’s roll.
“The puzzle is that I registered recently and when I checked with my phone I got information indicating tha this is my polling station. I am disturbed that my name is not on the voter’s roll,” said a registrant who called himself Mxolisi adding that sengihamba ngidinga zonke indawo(I am moving from one station to the next searching).
A station in Ward 11 in Mkosana recorded 26 people who were turned away for not appearing on the voter’s roll. At Chamabondo 16 registrants were turned away while Kings Centre had 20 with the same reasons of not appearing on the voter’s rolls.
“Look, we are hopping from one station to the next just in case we find our names somewhere. There is confusion around and we don’t know what really happened. If I fail to get my name today, tomorrow I will travel to ZEC offices in Hwange to seek clarification,” said a female electorate who declined to be named for security reasons.
There is no voter registration centre in Victoria Falls. Residents have to travel 100 km to register in Hwange.
A lot of mispostings were noted as some registrants in Victoria Falls were surprisingly given Hwange locations.
“My address was captured as Mkosana, Hwange, yet I reside in Victoria Falls. I don’t know how this happened. When we were registering we furnished ZEC with correct addresses and all data. What I am seeing is a puzzle,” said one Phiri at a polling station near Mosi-oa-a-Tunya High School.
It is enshrined in the Electoral Act Chapter 2:13 s22A(3)(a) that voters who are registered on that roll shall cast their votes in any election at the polling station for whose area the roll was prepared. The voters claim that it appears that most of the electorate’s names are not appearing on the Voter’s Rolls despite having registered and made transfers after the delimitation exercise.
Rural stations had fewer numbers of electorate who were turned away. At Skumbi and Jabula, no one was turned away. 19 registrants successfully inspected their names at Skumbi while 12 checked their names at Jabula Primary School.
Voter’s Roll inspection is in line with the Electoral Act 2:13 s21 which calls for registrants to inspect the voter’s roll for correction if it needs be. The voter inspection exercise ought to have begun on 27 May 2023 but there was a delay in the distribution of materials with some centres in Hwange Central and West receiving theirs around midnight.
