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Youth castigate illegal voter registration, call for electoral reform
Youth Agenda Trust
April 23, 2013

Youth drawn from Avondale and Mt Pleasant on Sunday took a swipe at suspected Zanu-PF politicians who are allegedly smuggling people into the voters roll without following due process. The youth who had gathered at the Play Your Vote Sports tournament that was organized by Youth Agenda Trust at Alexandra sports club had no kind words for the criminal activities allegedly being perpetrated by these unscrupulous politicians and said they have already rigged the election.

The angry youth vowed to reject a rigged election and called on the United Nations and International observers to quickly come through at least 3 months before the make or break election that will replace the malfunctioning Government of National Unity (GNU).

The youth also called for the immediate overhaul of the voters roll as it is now infested with imaginary and dubious names but at the same time eliminating bona fide voters. They called for electoral reforms supervised by SADC and the United Nations saying some political parties were failing to fulfill provisions of the Global Political Agreement.

Speaking to the youth, Youth Agenda Trust Programs Manager Lawrence Mashungu told the youth that the time for them to stand up and be counted is now and that they have the right to demand a free and fair election. “Look at what the youth in other countries have done of late, just emulate that,” he said.

The youth had this to say, “We are not happy that there are some elements in the Inclusive government who think that they are above the law. We would like to warn them that we will not accept a flawed voters roll for the elections,” said Misheck Nyamukaiwa of Mt Pleasant. Paul Bukutu of Avondale took a swipe at the illegal registration process saying that the culprits were now becoming a law unto themselves. “We need to separate government from our political parties. We seriously need electoral reform before we can talk of free and fair elections,” Bukutu said.

Manyungwa Macheso also of Mt Pleasant described the voter registration process as an evil exercise that is deliberately meant to undermine the people of Zimbabwe and called on SADC facilitator Jacob Zuma to ensure that Harare adheres to SADC rules and guidelines on the conduct of a free and fair election.

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