A tragedy of Shakespearean proportions is playing out ahead of elections next year, as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) struggles to explain the voter registration exercise amid accusations of chicanery.
Comment: NewsDay Editor
In 2013, Zimbabwe went for elections with the opposition not having sight of the voters’ roll, leading to a disputed election and next year threatens to be even worse.
Zec is unclear on how data collected from the biometric voters’ registration (BVR) would be stored, raising the spectre that there could be interference.
The commission’s boss, Rita Makarau displayed all her dishonesty when she said a second tender would be advertised, raising a real fear that she has no clue what is happening and she is groping in the dark for answers.
There was never an agreement over a second tender and Zec should explain how and why we got here.
The voters’ roll is one of the most important aspects of any election and how it is handled will speak to the integrity of the polls.
If Zec fails to explain this one and somehow the country ends up using the old voters’ register drawn up by the Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede, then the country can expect another disputed election.
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Zec should be at the forefront of explaining developments, but it seems the commission is at sixes and sevens and is also playing catch up.
The opposition, too, have a duty to be diligent and question all Zec’s moves, as failure to do that will lead to a disputed election, whose effects could be worse than the 2013 poll.
Zimbabweans should not be blind-sided into walking on a gangplank, where they will find that the results of the elections are predetermined by a flawed voters’ register.
Thus, Zec should explain how they intended to store voters’ data in the absence of a tender for the central system and when they decided another contract would be floated.
They should explain their relationship with Nikuv International Projects, who have been quiet, despite years of being accused of hijacking the country’s elections.
The country has regressed in the past two decades because of disputed elections and there is need for Zec to do what is morally right, by ensuring that the highest standards are maintained.
Failure to do that would be akin to writing the country’s epitaph, as there is no way the country can recover from the calamity of another disputed election.
