Harare (New Ziana)-The newly formed opposition Democratic Union of Zimbabwe (DUZ) led by United States based Robert Chapman is getting cold feet about the impending harmonised elections scheduled for later this year, alleging an unconducive environment.
Addressing the media soon after holding meeting the SADC Electoral Advisory Council (SEAC) Pre-Election Assessment Mission in the capital on Wednesday, Evidence Mufambi the DUZ secretary for regional affairs responsible for the AU and SADC said there was need to put in place “necessary reforms” first before going into the elections.
Mufambi cited the delimitation report which he said was flawed, and the voters’ roll which he said needed to be availed to stakeholders, particularly political parties, as some of the sticking points to holding the elections.
He said his party did not agree with the delimitation report because it had a lot of irregularities and also favoured the ruling Zanu PF party, although he did not specify how it did that.
On the voters’ role, he said by now all relevant stakeholders should have finished inspecting it but they had not yet had sight of it.
“Yes, they are saying there are resources associated with that, but we need to have that voters roll so that we inspect it, we know what is in it,” he said.
“So the delay to give out the voters roll, to us it means justice in not prevailing and it is not to our advantage as new political players.”
While ZEC has refused to release the electronic version of the voters roll citing weak security features, any voter has the right to walk into its offices and inspect it free of charge while the electoral management can print copies for fee.
The High Court recently upheld arguments by ZEC that releasing the electronic version of the voters’ roll would compromise the security of its data base.
Mufambi said with the new delimitation of boundaries, both political parties and the electorate needed to go through the voters roll as it spelt out the polling stations.
He said they also needed to verify whether their personal information was correctly captured in the voters roll.
The SEAC mission is in the country to assess the suitability of the political and security environment for holding of free, fair, transparent, credible and peaceful elections in conformity with the revised SADC principles and guidelines on holding free polls.
It is also assessing whether ZEC is prepared and ready to conduct the 2023 general elections.
SEAC missions and SADC Electoral Observation Missions (SEOMs) routinely engage with stakeholders in member states that are due to conduct elections.
These routine missions assist the SEAC to appreciate the national context in order to better inform the chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation.
So far the SEAC team, led by its chairperson Eswatini Judge Ticheme Dlamini has held several meetings with stakeholders including political parties and the media.
New Ziana
