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Gokwe Nemangwe: Making every vote count
Youth Alliance for Democracy
November 09, 2011

Gokwe Nemangwe is situated some 40km West of Gokwe Centre with an estimated population of about 57 000 people. The majority of residents in Nemangwe are youthful most of whom are employed by the Cotton Marketing Board while the other rely on agricultural activities such as cotton, maize, rapoko and rice production. The area is a central point for people living in Nembudziya and Chitekete and from these three areas 10 people were decimated in politically motivated violence between 2005 and 2009. Of late Gokwe has been in the headlines following the murder of Moses Chokuda in 2009 and was only buried early this month following insistence by his family that he could only be buried after justice had been delivered. The majority of the people have lost confidence in the electoral frameworks of this country following the violence that rocked the previous elections and electoral myths that have been peddled by political parties with some serious malpractices such as the presence of cameras in polling stations that will detect who voted 'wrongly' and polling stations being manned by youth militias during the last election demanding that all voters should record and surrender to them serial numbers of ballot papers at the same time threatening them that these serials numbers will be used to identify those who would have not voted for the candidate of choice for the militias. Munyaradzi Makota indicated at a voter registration training meeting conducted by Youth Alliance for Democracy and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights over the weekend that 'our faith is no longer in the electoral process but in some powers that God will intervene in Zimbabwe. We have suffered at the hands of our own brothers, sisters and children.' It is against this background that YAD and ZLHR saw it fit to carry out a human rights defenders training session while mainstreaming the issues of voter registration as the country heads for a referendum and general election in the near future.

About 200 people gathered under a tree at CMB in Nemangwe for the Community Human Rights Defenders Training Session and X-Class Voter Registration Awareness Campaign. In attendance were committee members of the Gokwe District Electoral Clubs, headmen from 8 villages, the young and the elderly. Male participation at this platform dominated women's participation as most women were said to be pre-occupied with farming activities or afraid to participate in the process owing to a history of political polarisation in the district.

Emerging Issues:

Most people are not aware of their human rights guaranteed by Zimbabwean laws or they have been told that rights were cancelled in the country. Rumours that the inclusive government collapsed are dominating the district and that elections will be held next year in march despite indications that it is not feasible or desired to rush into an election with a tainted voters roll' polarised communities and in the absence of tangible electoral reforms. People are being forced to attend rallies and meetings at times they are told that there is a food relief program only to return home empty-handed as politicians have seen that due to poverty most people will turn up for political party activities if they tell them that there is a food distribution program. Headmen and other traditional leaders are being accused of denying anticipated anti-ZANU PF prospective voters a right to register to vote by deliberately refusing to give them letter that certify their residence in a lineage - a pre-requisite for one to be registered to vote. Participants alleged that these headmen are paid USD20.00 per month by chiefs to derail the registration of perceived opposition supporters.

The centralisation of voter registration at the Constituency Registrar's office is restricting people to register to vote as they cannot afford to pay transport fees amounting to USD3.00 to Gokwe Centre. This has led a situation where prospective new voters being denied a right to vote, during the previous elections the registrar of voters did not deploy mobile voter registration teams in these areas. Junet Sibanda a human rights activist noted that 'the majority of the people in this area can spend a month without a single USD1.00.'

National identity cards and birth certificates continue to be a problem for most possible new voters, owing to the rural setting in which most people give birth to their kids at home and rarely have access to a birth record from local clinics or hospitals as they will be required to pay maternal fee ranging from USD30.00 to USD50.00 a figure that is way out of reach for the majority of the people who mainly rely on barter trade e.g. when someone wants mealie meal they will pay using maize to millers.

A ban has also been instituted on all private owned newspapers mostly in Chitekete thus creating an information vacuum with limited alternative views, with villagers being threatened with serious life threats if they are found in possession of these newspapers. This also represents a closure of the limited democratic space that had been ushered by the formation of the inclusive government. Melody Mautse after receiving the Legal Monitor said 'I will have to hide this and read it at home, if I am caught I don't know what will happen to me.'

Stop Gap Measures

Through the training sessions YAD and ZLHR undertook to educate villagers from the three areas on basic fundamental freedoms and rights, the electoral code of conduct dispelling electoral myths, progress on the constitution making process and creating a safety net through legal representation for human rights defenders in the area. This also saw the distribution of IEC materials on fundamental human rights guaranteed under the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, electoral code of conduct as well as community electoral conflict management drawing lessons from the Chokuda case. The trained 200 participants are expected to work with electoral club heads in their respective constituencies in educating others as well as being a catalyst force that ignites and steers voter registration initiatives in their communities. This also involved informing villagers on the timelines for voter registration as provided by the current electoral laws. Meanwhile an information committee has been set that will collect materials from YAD and ZLHR once every month as a means of availing villagers in Gokwe with alternative information.

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