Election Resource Centre (ERC) director Babra Bhebe told
stakeholders at a delimitation conference in Bulawayo yesterday that they
received the invoice after requesting a quotation from the electoral management
body.
“As ERC we submitted a request to Zec to have access to the
voters roll that it is going to use for the delimitation process. We received a
response that it can onlygive us the hard copy. We then went ahead and
requested an invoice and we got a quotation of above US$187 00 for us to be
able to access the voters roll,” Bhebe said.
“We think that this is way too much. Given the cost of the
hard copy, it will be difficult for any stakeholder to acquire it and this puts
into question whether Zec is willing to have anyone scrutinise the voters
roll.”
Data analysts have exposed various anomalies in the voters
roll, while the ruling Zanu PF party has also raised reservations over the
state of the voters roll. Critics say this dented the ability of Zec to hold
credible elections.
Opposition parties yesterday described Zec’s charges as
ridiculous and an attempt to deny interested stakeholders an opportunity to
scrutinise the document.
Zapu election secretary Kevin Mapanda said: “This is
totally ridiculous and I don’t think any political party will pay that amount.
The problem is that Zec only engages the ruling Zanu PF party and this
delimitation process is going to cause confusion.”
MDC Alliance national deputy organising secretary Mukombwe
Dube said Zec’s fees were meant to deprive other political parties of access to
the voters roll.
Zanu PF director of commissariat, mobilisation and
elections Kizito Kuchekwa said they respected the independence of Zec despite
having their own concerns against the electoral management body.
Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) national deputy
secretary for elections Ellen Shiriyedenga said they could not afford the Zec
fees.
“The challenge is that Zec never consulted stakeholders
when it gazetted those fees and this destroys the prospect of a multiparty
democracy because few political parties can afford that amount. As CCC, we
surely can’t afford that as we don’t have the money,” Shiriyedenga said.
CCC leader Nelson Chamisa said only a credible, auditable
and affordable voters roll would lead to
a free and fair election.
“A credible voters roll is non-negotiable. By all means
necessary, getting a verified, certified and audited copy of the voters roll is
a must. By law, the voters roll is biometric. Levying a cost to limit access is
unacceptable. It’s a fight for a credible election,” Chamisa tweeted.
Zec spokesperson Jasper Mangwana, however, told NewsDay
that a cheaper electronic format would be available “soon”.
Mangwana said there were currently no legal provisions on
how the independent audit demanded by CCC could be done.
“The provisions available is what the commission has been
doing through voter inspection where the owners of the information are able to
audit their own information if it’s correct or not. The commission used a lot
of resources to inspect the voters roll at 11 107 inspection centres across the
country for 10 days in July,” Mangwana said.
“There are no issues of rigging that can be really a key
issue when it comes to voters roll considering that voting is happening at
polling stations, not only that all agents are available when voting is
happening. So the alleged facts around rigging are impossible.”
Mangwana then referred NewsDay to Zec chief elections
officer Utoile Silaigwana when asked to justify the figure.
Silaigwana said: “ERC should not send an alarm. Everyone
should know that the prices are not set by Zec, but they are gazetted by the
laws of Zimbabwe. Zec simply follows the rules.” Newsday
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