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Weekend activities update - Week ending 26 November 2012
Bulawayo Agenda
November 27, 2012

Election Preparedness Multi-Stakeholder Meeting

Stakeholders drawn from Midlands province consisting of church leaders, activists, women's groups' representatives, domestic workers and educationists yesterday thronged the Oasis of Hope Hall in Gweru to attend the Election Preparedness Multi-Stakeholder meeting organized by Gweru Agenda.

The meeting was second of numerous others planned across the country's provinces to gather stakeholders' views and projections on the upcoming elections particularly regarding the challenges in so far as the registration process is concerned. View more The other aim of the meeting was to cultivate stakeholders' coordination in organizing citizens to effectively participate in the referendum and elections as part of Bulawayo Agenda's mandate to conduct civic education around topical issues in the country.

Participants voiced concerns on a number of issues. They attributed the relatively lower voter turnout in the past election to a number of issues ranging from disillusionment to lack of transparency in the build-up to elections. They also said the younger voters did not participate in the last elections because they lacked confidence in the process as they had noted marginal improvement of their situation despite having elected leaders to solve their problems. The presenters of the day were from the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) and Bulawayo Agenda.

The ZESN representative highlighted that the Electoral Amendment Bill is now law under which the next elections shall be held. He appraised the participants on four critical points on the Electoral Act. The points were:

Voting shall be polling station based. Meaning that people shall vote were they registered to vote.

Relatives of deceased registered voters should inform the Registrar General's office. This, he said is an ongoing process designed to ensure that the voters' roll is up to date.

Announcing of elections shall be within 5 days. He said the time frame is still too much considering that in some countries, results are announced barely 24 hours after the election.

President sets election dates. He said the fact that the President shall also be a candidate in the election in which he announces is in itself unfair.

They provoked discussion and assisted participants to reflect on their localities and how the environment has/ has not changed to facilitate a hustle-free registration process that will subsequently lead to a free and fair election.

What they said

"It is difficult for us traditional leaders to speak out in such forums as we do not know what would happen of us when we go back to our areas," Traditional leader (name withheld)

"As soon as election dates are announced, there has to be a transitional authority. This will curb the possibilities of rigging by the incumbent." Local participant.

"The registrar general's office should synchronize its systems in order to automatically erase anyone on the voters' roll in the event of their death," Participant.

"Some of the people cannot register because they do not have proof of residence. The most affected are youths, women and domestic workers in urban areas."

Announcement

There shall be a mobile registration station in Maboleni Village, Lower Gwelo on a date yet to be announced.

Public Meeting: Urban Councils Act Amendment Update

Later in the day at the Oasis of Hope Hall in Gweru, more than a hundred people attended a highly charged meeting on the proposed Urban Councils Act Amendment with Buhera Central Member of Parliament, Tangwara Matimba.

The meeting was organized in conjunction with the Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust (SAPST).

The objective of the meeting was to share information on the progress of the Private Member's Bill in amending Chapter 99:15 (Urban Councils Act). Hon. Matimba told the participants that the bill is in limbo as it has not gone to parliament for the second reading and there have been attempts by the executive to stop the bill. He also said the reason for amending that Urban Councils Act was to reduce central government interference in local authorities' business. This he said will aid councils to be more effective in terms of service delivery.

Gweru Residents Association representative, Cornelius Siliphiwe lashed at members of parliament for reducing the powers of the minister of Local Government while failing to empower residents through the amendment. He said residents want more than reduced powers of the office of the minister. Some of the issues that came out are as follows:

• Residents should have powers to recall incompetent elected officials.
• Residents should be empowered by the constitution to carry out citizen arrests.
• The residents of Gweru shall embark on a "No Service-No pay" protest if service delivery continues to be poor.
• CSOs should advocate for transparency in the awarding of tenders and in ensuring that companies remit a percentage of their income to developmental projects.
• There is need to allocate "Ward Development Funds" Councilors as Members of Parliament dismally failed to administer and account for the Constituency Development Fund.

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