KADOMA – Human rights lawyer Jeremiah Bamu has described the $30 000 demanded by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) for production of a full copy of the voters’ roll as too prohibitive.
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Bamu made the remarks during a Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn)-organised media workshop in Kadoma last Thursday.
Zec is charging $15 for a copy of a ward-based voters’ roll which translates to $29 370 for all the country’s 1 958 wards.
He said the high costs were likely to bar independent candidates or smaller political parties from accessing it.
“The prescribed fee to access the voters’ roll is unreasonable because to me the definition of reasonable is that it is not above the cost to produce it and to me the $29 370,00 was way above what ZEC would spend to produce the voters’ roll,” said Bamu.
“The voters’ roll is in Jpeg and cannot be analysed or searchable and, therefore, is of little use. Zec should, therefore, edit the voters’ roll to ensure that it is in Pdf file or Microsoft Word.”
Meanwhile, Zec commissioner Sibongile Ndlovu has admitted that the voters’ roll still contained several names of dead people, among them former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Douglas Smith.
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Ndlovu made the remarks during commemorations to mark World Anti-Corruption Day in Bulawayo on Thursday.
“People complain that there are dead people on the voters’ roll, it is true even Smith’s name is still there,” said Ndlovu.
“There has to be information that somebody must submit to have the name removed from the voters’ roll. You either bring the burial order or the death certificate. If not, the name remains on the voters’ roll.”
“The electoral reforms introduced recently allow a traditional process where even people with relatives who died in rural areas can have their names cleared from the roll through the submission of registered affidavits to the Registrar’s Office. Unless that is done, there is no way, the office would remove the names,” said Ndlovu.
