ZEC scraps 4 562 dead people from the voters’ roll

Nqobile Bhebhe, [email protected]

THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is in the process of removing a total of 4  562 dead people from the country’s voters’ roll.

In an extra-ordinary Government gazette General Notice 193 of 2024 published on February 9, ZEC, Chief Elections Officer, Mr Utloile Silaigwana said the names of people appearing on the schedule will be removed from the voters’ roll unless a notice of appeal is given to the Commission.

The removal of deceased persons is a continuous process that the Commission has always been doing when it receives a list of deceased persons from the Civil Registry Department.

“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 (7) days from the date of publication of this notice.”

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.

The regular house cleaning is done to ensure that no one can try and vote using identity particulars belonging to a dead person whom they might physically resemble, although ID cards are supposed to be surrendered to the authorities when a death is reported.