RESIDENTS of St Peter’s Village on the outskirts of Bulawayo say they are in the dark about the on-going voter registration exercise with scores of people yesterday expressing ignorance over the process.
Report by Own Correspondent
The exercise that started on April 29 and ends on May 19 seeks to register citizens ahead of the harmonised elections likely to be held later this year.
But during separate interviews yesterday when NewsDay crew visited St Peters Village, a peri-urban settlement near Pumula high-density suburb, residents said they were not aware that voter registration had commenced. They also expressed lack of knowledge concerning what voter registration entailed and the requirements needed for them to register to vote in the pending harmonised elections.
“We are in complete darkness regarding the so-called voter registration as we have not heard anything about it,” Eveline Ndlovu said.
“We do not know what is required for us to register or where we are supposed to register and we seriously need help about that.”
Ndlovu said it was disheartening to note that the villagers from the area were not even aware that voter registration was already in progress, when it started and when it was going to end.
“There has not been a sign of people or some officials approaching the area and telling us about that,” Ndlovu said.
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Another villager, Mlungisi Ndlovu, said chances were high that the majority of St Peter’s residents would end up not registering to vote due to lack of information on the exercise.
St Peter’s Village head Jester Banda told NewsDay that the people from the area were in the dark about voter registration.
Banda said most people did not have documentation such as national identity cards (IDs) and birth certificates that were required for the process.
A 19-year-old man Zwelithini Mbambo said he did not know about the voter registration exercise.
“But I do have the drive to vote during these elections and it is my choice,” he said.
Another resident Voti Mzinda said their rights to vote as citizens of Zimbabwe had been totally ignored by the government.
He said the residents were not aware that voter registration had started and that national IDs were required to register.
“If national IDs are required to vote then we have a problem as the majority of us do not have IDs especially the youths,” Mzinda said.
He said the residents wished that there were mobile caravans that would come into the area and issue out national IDs and birth certificates before elections.
When some of the villagers were asked about the voter registration process they confused it with the March referendum on the new constitution, in a clear sign they were not aware of the current voter registration exercise.
Last week, the Welshman Ncube-led MDC called for an extension of the mobile voter registration exercise after Bulawayo residents expressed frustration at the programme. Bulawayo residents have slammed the voter registration exercise as unfair and a blatant attempt to deny them their right to vote.
