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Prosper Ndlovu Senior Reporter
THE Dr Dumiso Dabengwa-led Zapu, which is facing defeat in Wednesday’s harmonised elections, yesterday claimed that the voters’ roll had more than 350 000 double entries.Dr Dabengwa called a Press conference at his Bulawayo offices where he told journalists that his party was unhappy with the voters’ register.
He said his party had conducted an analysis of the document and discovered certain irregularities in the names of voters.
“After successfully challenging the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) with court action into publishing and making available to the general public the voters’ roll, Zapu got Zec to allow us to purchase the voters’ role as at May 2013,” said Dr Dabengwa.
MDCs and Zapu have always alleged irregularities on the voters’ roll but have failed to explain how its inaccuracies favoured any political party.
The Zapu leader said their analysis revealed that the previous voters’ roll and the updated version after the two phases of voter registration both had “flawed” recordings.
Said Dr Dabengwa: “The first comment I have to make is that the previous list contained 317 000 odd entries. The current list we interrogated now has 40 000. To us as Zapu, the two lists raise a lot of suspicion and a call for an investigation.
“The fundamental point is that without a completely new voters’ registration and a completely new voters’ roll, it is pointless having elections in our country.”
Dr Dabengwa said his party was planning to take the matter to the Constitutional Court but said his party did not have money to hire lawyers.
“If Zapu had resources, it would certainly take these matters to the Constitutional Court to draw attention to what we have long been saying that there is a serious flaw in the voters’ roll and the result of these elections can never be considered free and fair. We wonder why other parties involved in these elections do not take this issue as serious,” he said.
Dr Dabengwa said from his analysis the alleged irregularities were concentrated in Matabeleland region, where, he said, there was a higher concentration of opposition parties. He claimed that his party has communicated its concerns with the African Union Commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma who was in the country last week.
Comment could not be obtained from Zec chairperson Justice Rita Makarau but her deputy, Mrs Joyce Kazembe said the electoral body was investigating the allegations.
However, Dr Dlamini-Zuma told journalists in Harare in her pre-election assessment that she met all presidential candidates and stakeholders and no complaint of vote rigging were raised.
She dismissed claims of vote rigging and malpractice being peddled by some sections of the private media saying no such evidence had been produced before authorities.
Online Reporter