THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has accused political parties for causing discrepancies on the voters’ roll by allegedly issuing affidavits with same addresses to their supporters during the voter registration exercise.
Zec has been under fire after it emerged that as many as 40
registrants were sometimes registered under one residential address or none at
all, but the elections management body said it was not at fault.
Data experts studying the voters’ roll have unearthed
several anomalies on the voters’ roll, among them names of 3 253 people aged
100 years or more, including 11 who are older than the oldest known surviving
person on earth in the Guinness World Book of Records.
In a statement yesterday, Zec has, however, disowned the
voters’ roll which was recently leaked, saying the document was tampered with
so as to discredit the elections management body.
Zec chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana said
political parties, without naming any, were corruptly issuing affidavits with
the same addresses to their supporters to register to vote resulting in the
confusion.
He said investigations showed that some affidavits had as
many as 40 people sharing the same residential address.
“Some politicians are the chief culprits of this problem.
The commission has now and again deliberated on this issue in our multi-party
liaison committees, but to no avail,” Silaigwana said.
“They are the ones who facilitate their supporters to be
registered and some of them have been doing so during the current voter
registration blitz and have set up desks where they commission affidavits for
their supporters for presentation to our registration officers as proof of
residence
“Our registration is done offline and there is no way the
commission can tell that there is a high number of people who have registered
under the same address.”
Silaigwana said the commission did not have the capacity to
determine whether the addresses provided were genuine.
“As long as the proof of residence provided meets the
requirements of the law, Zec is obliged to register that voter. The Legislature
also seems to have taken this into account and provided for objection by voter
procedures in the law,” he said.
“In terms of sections 28 of the Electoral Act, a voter may
object to the retention of any name of the voters’ roll of the constituency in
which the object’s voter is registered and he or she may request the removal of
such a person’s name from the voters’ roll. The onus to object to the
registration of any name on the voters’ roll is, therefore, squarely on those
who are aggrieved.”
Zanu PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa yesterday
challenged Zec to name and shame the political parties involved in the alleged
scam.
“Zanu PF, as the ruling party, stands by the laws of the
land which it played a principal role is sponsoring and voting through
Parliament, laws which the President (Emmerson Mnangagwa) who is its party
leader assented to,” Mutsvangwa said.
“Clearly, the averted statement shows the law being
transgressed. If it is true, then Zec and other associated law enforcement
agencies should bring culprits to book regardless of party affiliation.”
But Citizens Coalition for Change interim vice-president
Tendai Biti rubbished Zec’s claims, saying: “This is the body that has not been
playing fair and independent. So it should zip its mouth shut. The key issue
here is that the resident requirement would then make sense and they place
difficulties on citizens.
“So, Zec can’t attack the lawyers and commissioners that
are trying to help people that are desperate.”
MDC Alliance leader Douglas Mwonzora said: “It’s not the
fault of the political party at all….Anyway, phone the spokesperson of the
party. I no longer want to comment.” Newsday
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