Online Reporter
Zvamaida Murwira
Senior Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has removed more than 7 000 deceased persons from the voters’ roll as the election management body cleans the roll to ensure that it reflects the correct number of voters.
The removal of deceased persons from the voters’ roll was announced by ZEC’s Chief Elections Officer, Mr Simbarashe Tongayi, in an Extraordinary Government Gazette published last Friday.
ZEC regularly and routinely removes dead voters from the roll as data from the Registrar-General is made available from the lists of people who have been certified as dead.
“It is hereby notified, in terms of section 33(4) read with section 27(1) of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13), that voter registration officers have reason to believe that the persons whose names are listed in the First Schedule, and who were registered as voters for the constituencies, wards and polling stations listed therein, have died. The names of those persons will be removed from the voters’ roll unless notice of appeal is given to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission,” reads the notice.
“By means of this notice, notification is made to any voter on the First Schedule who may be alive to lodge an objection, at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Mahachi Quantum, 1, Nelson Mandela Avenue, corner Kaguvi Street and Jason Moyo Avenue, Harare, and at the respective Commission Provincial Offices, to the inclusion of his or her name in the First Schedule using the form prescribed in the Second Schedule no later than seven days from the date of publication of this notice.”
The list contains names of the deceased persons, their national identification number, gender, date of birth, address and the date when they died.
The notice is also accompanied by a form that will enable those who want to object to the removal of their names to fill and submit to ZEC.
Some of the details required when objecting include one’s name, national registration, name of village head, headman, traditional chief and a residential address if it is in an urban area.
Other details are the name of the constituency, district, local authority, the name of the nearest school, hospital, mine or other institutions and the name of the polling station and ward.
A person objecting will also be required to affirm his or her preparedness to appear before a Magistrate’s Court should that need arise and the form is confirmed by a Commissioner of Oaths.
From the reading of the list ZEC has published, all those that are set to be removed died in 2026.
In a recent interview, ZEC deputy chairperson, Ambassador Rodney Kiwa, said the removal of deceased persons was routine, adding that it was important to have an up-to-date voters’ roll.
He said publishing the names was not only a legal requirement but afforded an opportunity for an objection with respect to those who would have been deemed deceased by mistake.
He said updating the voters’ roll also enabled the provision of a proper and realistic threshold of total voters on a given polling station or constituency.
This, said Amb Kiwa, helps to ensure that candidates are not prejudiced by having fictitious figures.
He said with several voters on a given polling station pegged at not more than 1 000, if the voters’ roll was not updated, it might be clogged with deceased persons.
Amb Kiwa said failing to update voters’ roll might have the effect of prejudicing candidates and voters.
