Beitbridge remains calm after voting

Thupeyo Muleya

Beitbridge Bureau

The political environment remained peaceful in Beitbridge district by late yesterday where the voting process went on as scheduled on Wednesday.

By the end of the day yesterday, ward elections officers were trickling in at the Beitbridge East and West constituency command centres for further processing and declaration.

The district has 121 polling centres covering 21 wards. The voting centres increased from 106 in 2018 to 121 this year owing to an increase in the number of registered eligible voters in the district.

In the local authority elections six wards were contested under the Beitbridge Municipality while 15 fell under the Beitbridge Rural District Council (BBRDC).

The constituency election officers for Beitbridge East and West, Mrs Josephine Siziba and Mrs Sikhangezile Mafu-Moyo respectively said the process had gone on without challenges.

“We are now collating results from the 10 wards across the constituency and we haven’t recorded or heard of any untoward incidents in our area. We have processed results from four wards and more areas coming in,” said Mrs Siziba.

At the Beitbridge West constituency elections centre, Mrs Mafu Moyo said they were still waiting for Ward elections officers to arrive from more stations.

She said they had since processed results from Ward 6 Rural and Ward 5 Urban.

“The process is progressing without any challenges and it has been calm since the start of the elections,” she said.

Speaking after casting his votes on Wednesday, CCC’s aspiring candidate for Beitbridge East, Mr Renatho Ndou said he was pleased with the peaceful voting environment.

He contested against incumbent Cde Albert Nguluvhe (Zanu PF). In Beitbridge West Cde Thusani Masitha Ndou (Zanu PF) is contesting against Mr Moffat Ndou (independent and not related) who broke away from the CCC following the fielding of Mr Morgan Ncube by CCC.

Cde Fisani Moyo is facing a challenge from the CCC’s Mr Jaston Mazhale in the Gwanda-Tshithaudze constituency.

A voter in Ward 2, under Beitbridge Municipality, Mrs Lizzy Mucheka said she was looking forward to improved public security post elections in the town.

“We have too many thick bushes in our area and the girl child is not safe. As women our hope is that the incoming councillor will make issues of public safety a top priority on their to-do list,” he said.

At the Beitbridge border post, it was business as usual with the movement of human traffic and cargo remaining stable during the voting period.

The Regional Immigration officer-in-charge of Beitbridge, Mr Joshua Chibundu said of 95 594 travellers handled at the post, 50 173 were departures and 45 421 entries between 14 and 20 August.

“This is a reduction from the previous week running 7 to 13 August where we processed a total of 107 611 travellers including 52 062 departures and 55 549 arrivals,” he said.