Matabeleland South, the province with the least number of registered voters in the country will lose one constituency if the preliminary delimitation report produced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is adopted.
The report has received criticism from a parliamentary ad-hoc committee which presented its findings and recommendations to Parliament on Friday, which stated that the report lacked merit and is ridden with constitutional violations.
Matabeleland South which had 13 constituencies allocated to it during the previous 2007/8 delimitation exercise now has 12 while Harare gained one more constituency taking its total to 30.
In moving away a constituency, ZEC cited the low number of registered voters in Matabeleland South.
The reconfiguration of constituencies has seen Bulilima East and Bulilima West being merged into one – Bulilima Constituency while Matobo South and Matobo South were amalgamated into one – Matobo Constituency.
Gwanda Central was collapsed, merged with some parts of Beitbridge, and renamed Gwanda-Tshitaudze.
The constituency has 22 306 registered voters and comprises wards: 10, 11 and
12 of Beitbridge Rural District Council; wards 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of Gwanda
Municipality and wards 10, 22, and 23 of Gwanda Rural District Council.
The reconfigured Mangwe Constituency now has 22 193 registered voters and consists of wards: 16, 19 ,21 of Bulilima Rural District Council ; wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13 , 14 of Mangwe Rural District and wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Plumtree Town Council.
ZEC went on to create a new constituency – Matobo-Mangwe – on the boundary of the two districts which are separated by the Simukhwe River.
The constituency has 22 141 registered voters and comprises wards: 7, 8, 9,
10, 15, 16, 17 of Mangwe Rural District Council and wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8 and 20 of Matobo Rural District Council.
Proposed Matabeleland South National Assembly Constituencies
| SERIAL | CONSTITUENCY | NUMBER OF REGISTERED VOTERS |
| 1 | Beitbridge East | 22 462 |
| 2 | Beitbridge West | 22 450 |
| 3 | Bulilima | 22 759 |
| 4 | Gwanda North | 22 165 |
| 5 | Gwanda –Tshitaudze | 22 306 |
| 6 | Gwanda South | 22 245 |
| 7 | Insiza North | 22 160 |
| 8 | Insiza South | 22 205 |
| 9 | Mangwe | 22 193 |
| 10 | Matobo | 22 239 |
| 11 | Matobo–Mangwe | 22 141 |
| 12 | Umzingwane | 22 292 |
| Total | 267 617 |
“The province (Matabeleland South) had 267 617 registered voters as of 30 May 2022,” reads the delimitation report in part.
“It was allocated 12 constituencies due to the low number of registered voters.
The province failed to maintain the 13 constituencies it was allocated in 2007/8.”
Meanwhile, the number of constituencies in eight other provinces remains the same.
