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that the roll was full of dead people.
Registrar-General Mr Tobaiwa Mudede said the voters’ roll now had over 5,6 million registered voters.
“The total voter population as at May 1, 2013 is 5, 677, 881,” Mr Mudede said yesterday.
“Deceased voters from 1985 to 2010 stand at 692 422 while deceased voters from 2010 to date are at 277 198 which gives us a total of 969 620 deceased voters.”
It is understood that when a person dies, a burial order is issued and subsequently a death certificate, the RG’s Office automatically removes them from the voters’ roll.
Burial orders and death certificates are mainly issued out for people who die in towns and cities, while those in rural areas are sometimes not reported to the authorities.
According to Chapter 36 B of the Amended Electoral Act assented to by President Mugabe last year, the constituency registrar can only remove a person from the voters’ roll on the grounds that the voter was dead or absent from his or her constituency for a period of at least 12 months if there was a death certificate or a sworn statement by the mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter or other direct descendent of the voter sought to be removed.
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The other proof provided for by the Act includes a sworn statement by the councillor, chief, headman or village head of the area where the voter sought to be removed last resided.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission says no person would be removed from the voters’ roll without providing the foregoing proof.
There are indications that the RG’s Office removed some of the deceased people from the voters’ roll after being informed by village heads.
Meanwhile, Mr Mudede said about 16 300 Zimbabweans had visited the national mobile registration teams between Monday and Tuesday which saw over 3 000 citizens registering as voters for the first time.
He said over 4 000 citizens inspected the voters’ roll between the two days while over 7 500 got national IDs.
Mr Mudede said 1 428 people transferred from their previous polling stations to their current places of residence.
“The Registrar General of Voters has effectively deployed mobile registration teams countrywide from April 29, 2013 to May 19, 2013 subject to review,” he said.
“Initially, the turnout was low as expected since the information was still trickling down to the people. There has been a gradual increase on a daily basis since the exercise began. Hence additional teams are being deployed this week in response to the overwhelming demand for voter registration.”
Mr Mudede said every team had the capacity to issue national identity cards, conduct voter registration and inspection of the voters’ roll.
He said replacement of lost identity cards and change of citizenship would be offered free of charge for the duration of the exercise.
Mr Mudede said his office was still investigating allegations by the Zanu-PF leadership in Mashonaland East province that they had unearthed a massive scam in which suspected MDC-T supporters were using other people’s addresses and abandoned buildings as addresses to register as voters in Marondera.
He said the arrest of 19 MDC-T activists in Hatcliffe last week for impersonating Government officials revealed how some people were bent on prejudicing the credibility and functions of the Registrar – General of Voters.
Police said the 10 women and nine men were wearing T-shirts suggesting that they were from the Home Affairs Ministry and were found in possession of a voters’ roll on which they entered people’s particulars.
“The significance of this incident is that the fraudulently registered voters think they are in the voters’ roll and yet in actual fact they are not. We believe that the fraudulent voter registrations were intended to defile the voters’ roll to create an impression that the voters’ roll is in shambles.
“The claim from some MDC-T quarters that the voter population figure for Harare North Constituency declined from 24 000 to 14 000 registered voters is not true,” said Mr Mudede.
He said for the past three months the number of registered voters in the same constituency was actually increasing.
He said as at February 01, 2013, there were 25 746 registered voters while on March 05, 2013, there were 26 426 registered voters as well.
On April 01, 2013, Mr Mudede, said there were 27 181 voters in the same constituency.
Online Reporter