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Justice Priscilla Chigumba

THE 2018 voters’ roll has been printed, setting the stage for the holding of harmonised elections on July 30. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission says the roll does not have double registrations, nor dead or ghost voters, as it was specifically compiled to address the flaws of the 2013 voters’ roll.

The final voters’ roll has demographic details of the voter such as the first name, surname, date of birth, ID number and a photograph of the voter.
Critics of Zec and some opposition parties have been at the forefront of denigrating the voters’ roll, claiming it was flawed because it does not contain pictures of voters and that it has numerous dead and ghost voters. But Zec has moved to address these anomalies by meticulously cleaning up the voters’ roll and ensuring that the final document meets the standards required for the holding of credible elections.

In a statement on Thursday, Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba said: “In 2017, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission made a bold decision to compile a new voters’ roll for the 2018 Harmonised Elections because of the shortcomings of the 2013 voters’ roll which stakeholders had brought to the attention of the Commission,” said Justice Chigumba.

“The Commission and stakeholders were in agreement that the 2013 voters’ roll had become defunct because it was not constantly updated to cater for changes in the demography of voters. The Commission, therefore, finds it very strange for anyone to compare the 2013 and the 2018 voters’ rolls when it is well documented that stakeholders had unanimously agreed that the 2013 roll had become difficult to use for any credible election.

“What is even more shocking is the allegation that the Commission copied dead voters from the 2013 voters’ roll. It is difficult to imagine how a dead person from the 2013 roll could have resurrected and showed up at a registration centre between September 2017 and June 2018 to have their photo and fingerprints recorded for the new voters’ roll.

“The Commission would be pleased to receive a list of these dead voters for further investigation. In the absence of receiving such a list, we can only conclude that this is a false allegation.”

In a bid to produce a water tight voters’ roll, the commission set up inspection centres throughout the country to allow physical inspection of the voters’ roll between May 19 and 29. Following the inspection period, Justice Chigumba said, additional work was done on the voters’ roll to effect data corrections.

“During the inspection period, 114 691 requests for voter registration data corrections were received and effected,” she said.

“Section 32 of the Electoral Act 2:13 mandates the Commission to ensure that no one person appears more than once in the voters’ roll. The same law allows the Commission to remove any duplicates that are found in the roll. In compiling the 2018 voters’ roll, 31 248 duplicates were identified and removed while 39 892 transfers were effected.”

It would be fair to assume that Zec is under no illusion about the enormity of the task at hand regards the credibility of the forthcoming elections. Thus it would be futile for the electoral body to go out of its way to discredit itself by coming up with a flawed voters’ roll.

To be fair to Zec, the body has been transparent in its dealings with the various political actors, opening up its operations to scrutiny, including the printing of the ballots — an unprecedented move. It has emphasised that it welcomes factual information proving discrepancies in the voters’ roll but would not entertain frivolous and unfounded allegations of impropriety. Given the meticulous work it has done thus far and the lengths it has gone to ensure that the voters’ roll is updated, we can safely say the 2018 voters’ roll is a watertight document which will deliver a free, fair and credible election. It is unfortunate that the opposition, particularly the MDC Alliance, has found Zec to be a soft target as it stares imminent defeat at the polls.

The brickbats being aimed at Justice Chigumba are instructive in as far as they betray the trepidation in the opposition ranks. Zec is a neutral arbiter/referee in a contest whose outcome it has absolutely no vested interest in. The sustained assault on Justice Chigumba, which has taken a personal turn, is regrettable and should be condemned in the strongest terms. Being a woman, she is vulnerable to all manner of vitriol and patriarchal nonsense notwithstanding the fact that she was appointed to her position purely on merit.

We urge her to remain strong and not give in to the lynch mob. Zimbabwe stands on the threshold of history and the July 30 plebiscite is a vital cog of that transition. Let no one be fooled that they can stop the march towards the country regaining its glory and taking its rightful place in the community of nations.