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Zimbabweans not ready for elections
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
January 17, 2011
Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition held three community meetings in Mrehwa, Glendale and
Seke on the 15th and 16th of January 2011 respectively where participants
noted that the country is not yet ready for elections as most people
are yet to recover from the violence and intimidation which characterized
the 2008
June elections.
The meetings, which attracted
a total of 151 (85 women and 66 men) were aimed at furnishing participants
with an update on the state of the constitutional reform process,
to popularize The Coalition's minimum demands on the holding
of elections in Zimbabwe and also to provide a platform for debate
and civic inputs into national processes
Participants reported
partisan chairing of constitutional outreach meetings by COPAC team
leaders who were clearly selective of whom they chose to participate.
It was also reportes that in Chiweshe, Zanu PF youths were deployed
to intimidate people and coach villagers on how to respond to particular
issues. Residents also raised concerns over the partisan distribution
of agricultural input by the Grain Marketing Board particularly
in Glendale.
The following recommendations
were made by participants;
- Elections should not
be held before the completion of the constitution making process
- A peace keeping and
observers mission from SADC and the African Union should be instituted
three months before and three months after the elections
- Voter registration
should be an ongoing process and not an event that takes place
around the election period only and the voters roll to be updated
and availed to any registered voter who request for it.
- The police should
not be part of the elections as they are partisan
- Community protection
strategies should be put in place to protect citizens against
politically motivated violence.
- Electoral and media
reforms should be put in place.
- Ward Councilors and
MPs should be bold to stand up for their people and fight against
political subjugation.
- Resources for Small
and Medium Enterprises should be allocated to anyone regardless
of their political affiliation.
- Perpetrators
of political violence should be brought to book.
Visit the Crisis
in Zimbabwe fact
sheet
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