Chronicle Editor
Yoliswa Dube-Moyo, Matabeleland South Bureau Chief
Voters across Matabeleland South Province are turning up in good numbers to inspect the voters’ roll at various centres across the province.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) is currently carrying out a 10-day voters’ roll inspection which will end on July 26 ahead of the delimitation exercise with more than 11 000 inspection centres established countrywide for the exercise.
The country is headed for a crunch delimitation exercise, which will determine the number of constituencies each province will have.
The voters’ roll inspection exercise is a precursor for the delimitation exercise.
Registered voters have been urged to participate in the ongoing voters’ roll inspection process to avoid inconveniences during the upcoming 2023 general elections.
In Colleen Bawn and Gwanda town, Chronicle observed some voters inspecting the roll at some of the designated centres.
Matabeleland South provincial elections officer Mr Rabson Nyoni said the voters’ roll will be finalised once the inspection period lapses.
“In some places, people are trickling in slowly but for the most part, the turnout has been very good. The expectation is that people will come forward, inspect the voters’ roll, confirm their details and in cases where there are errors, we correct the errors.
The process is also allowing those who have since transferred to various places to have their names transferred to where they are, where they can cast their votes,” said Mr Nyoni.
“At the end of this programme, we believe that our voters’ roll will be finalised. We want to have a final roll that’s going to be used for delimitation, one with little or no errors.”
While members of the public can physically visit polling stations to check if they are registered, they can also check their registration status on mobile phones using *265# for those with Econet and NetOne subscriptions.
The inspection centres are the designated traditional polling stations that are used during an election.
Zimbabwe has 5,8 million registered voters so far with 53 percent of them being women.
Zec has invited both local and international observers to observe the inspection of the voters’ roll between July 17 and 26, 2022. Local observers will be required to pay US$10 or equivalent in local currency.
Those from the African continent are supposed to pay US$20 while international observers will be charged US$100. Foreign media houses are required to pay US$50 while local press is charged US$10 or equivalent in local currency.
Zec has also invited political parties to participate in the inspection exercise. In the past, there has been a lot of political bickering over the credibility of the voters’ roll but Zec has maintained its transparency over the management of electoral processes.
In a recent interview, political analyst, Mr Teddy Ncube, said the opening up of the voters’ roll to public scrutiny shows Zec’s commitment towards holding free and fair elections.
– @Yolisswa.
Online Reporter