By Lulu Brenda Harris and Tanaka Mrewa
The final round of mobile voter registration began on Sunday, with officers from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) keeping statistics and other information about the process under wraps.
Voter registration centres opened at 7 am and scores of people were seen queuing for their turn throughout the day.
Although the turnout appeared to be reasonable for the first day, several people expressed concern about the “slow pace” of the process, with some spending a significant amount of time inside the registration booth.
Around 10 am, there were around 20 people in line at McDonald Hall in Mzilikazi with one agitated woman approaching the officers to inquire as to why the registration process was taking so long.
The ZEC supervisor stated that they were handling too many transfers (which meant several people were changing from one polling station to another).
A 37-year-old woman who spoke to CITE on her way to register to vote at McDonald Hall said it was her first time and was “very excited.”
She added that the requirements needed to register were manageable this time because only one’s National Identity Card (ID) was required, as opposed to previous times when proof of residence was required, making it difficult for tenants.
As the CITE news crew made its way around the registration centres, ZEC officers on the ground said they were strictly forbidden from saying anything or commenting on statistics such as how many people had arrived or registered successfully so far that day.
The news crew was also told that they were not permitted to photograph the registration process.
Aside from not having the authority to engage the media, ZEC officers claimed that the news crew was not accredited by ZEC and thus could not accommodate their requests.
This occurred despite the fact that ZEC had not announced a media accreditation process for this round of registration.
Although the news crew presented their current press accreditation cards from the Zimbabwe Media Commission, ZEC officers remained tight-lipped, and others made calls to their superiors, but these efforts yielded nothing.
At voter registration sites in Entumbane and Maplanka in Gwabalanda, ZEC supervisors at those sites said the turnout was “ok and they were very busy.”
The news crew met with ZEC’s Bulawayo District Elections Officer, Sithembiso Khupe, who was monitoring the voter registration exercise at Nkulumane Engen registration centre, who advised that she will update the media on how to proceed after getting official communication from superiors.
In interviews, a 29-year-old Raymond Moyo who was on the queue at Maplanka said he was motivated to register to vote because he was not happy with the way the country was going.
“I want to make my voice heard through the ballot,” he said.
Meanwhile, a group of men in Gwabalanda’s Maplanka shops said they were unconcerned about registering to vote because of alleged rigging, claiming that “every time people voted, the outcome does not reflect what they would have voted for.”
The men claimed there was no freedom of speech in the country and thus refused to speak on camera.
Another resident there, Thembelani Dube, said he registered early in the morning and found the process “smooth because he was one of the first people in line.”
At the Konron registration centre in Lobengula West, observers from an organisation called Project Vote 263, noted the registration was slow, claiming some people had spent an hour inside the centre.
“The delay will discourage youths who are already disinterested in national processes,” claimed the observer.
At Nkulumane Hall, CITE observed the ZEC officers turning away an elderly man who had an ID card written “Alien” as he was born in Malawi and advised him to first correct his birth certificate.
