No party had access to e-roll – Makarau

Chief Court Reporter
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Rita Makarau on Wednesday said the commission was unable to provide electronic copies of the voters’ roll used in last year’s harmonised elections because of a breakdown of the production equipment. She said all candidates who participated in the elections approached ZEC seeking the electronic voters’ roll in searchable and analysable format.
Justice Makarau said reports from Registrar-General Mr Tobaiwa Mudede’s office indicated that the servers were broken down and nothing had been done to repair the equipment because of financial challenges.

She said this while testifying in the election petition brought to the Electoral Court by Mr Jameson Timba of MDC-T, who lost the Mt Pleasant seat to Cde Jason Passade.

“It cannot be said only the petitioner was disadvantaged, but all the candidates,” Justice Makarau said while responding to a question from Mr Timba’s lawyer, Mr Trust Maanda, who wanted to know why his client was not provided with the electronic copy of the voters’ roll.

“We failed to provide the e-roll to all the candidates that were participating in the elections,” said Justice Makarau. “They were equally disadvantaged. The election was conducted in circumstances where we could not provide the electronic voters’ roll to all the candidates.
“Even the election observers noted that in their various reports.”

Justice Makarau said all the candidates who participated in the elections were furnished with hard copies of the voters’ roll.
But Mr Maanda suggested to Justice Makarau that his client wrote to her raising concern over voter registration.

Justice Makarau confirmed receiving complaints from Mr Timba and said she advised him to use the provisions of the Electoral Act to register his objections.

Mr Maanda also asked Justice Makarau to comment on the two sets of results announced at the Mt Pleasant Constituency Centre and the National Command Centre.

Justice Makarau said results announced at the constituency command centre were official.
She said special votes were mixed with votes cast on July 31 as a way of protecting the secrecy of votes.

Mr Joseph Mandizha of Mandizha and Company, who is appearing for Cde Passade, had no questions for Justice Makarau. Mr Timba polled 3 800 votes against Cde Passade’s 7 920. Cde Passade denies any wrongdoing.