BY VARAIDZO MUDEWAIRI
Human rights groups have urged the government to enable communities throughout the country to access national identity cards, as failure to do so will disenfranchise the youth in the elections expected next year.
This came out during a symposium on access to documentation held at the weekend in Gweru, which was organised by ZimRights.
The country is set to hold general elections in 2023 amid revelations that less than 3 000 new voters were registered to vote in 2021.
Vostile Creative Trust director Trust Malvern Daka told delegates at the symposium that there was need for young people to access national identity cards so that they are able to register to vote.
“There is need for community awareness by all stakeholders to ensure that people have access to national documents. There is also need for the Registrar-General’s office to decentralise their offices to ensure that people in remote areas also access identity cards.
“First time voters, especially those born around 2000 need to exercise their right to take part in electoral processes,” he said.
Daka called for realignment of the country’s laws to ensure that people that were born in Zimbabwe by foreign parents labelled “aliens”can also enjoy the right to vote.
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“There are still a lot of barriers in accessing IDs such as centralisation of offices, language barriers, and lack of technological advancements, thereby limiting access to documentation,” he said.
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