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Massive rigging unveiled as mobile voter registration ends
Tererai Karimakwenda, SW Radio Africa
August 17, 2007

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news170807/Rigging170807.htm

As the regional Heads of State conclude their summit in Lusaka, Zambia on Friday, Zimbabwe is awash with reports that hundreds of thousands were denied the opportunity to register to vote in the mobile registration exercise that ended the same day. There is also evidence that massive rigging took place during the exercise that began June 18th and was conducted by the Registrar-General's Office and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. It is reported some areas identified as opposition strongholds were not serviced. The authorities are also accused of using food as a political tool and forcing street vendors to register in constituencies other than their own.

David Chimhini, director of the Civic Education Trust (ZIMCET), said they received "disturbing" reports from some constituencies. He pointed to Harare South as an example, saying people there were allocated new housing stands and were then told they had to register using the new stand's address. But these were people who were already registered under their current addresses elsewhere. Chimhini said the exercise is reported to have registered 45,000 people as of last week. That number is the equivalent of one constituency. Chimhini questioned the extent of the coverage by government, saying the exercise could not have been successful. He said: "I can safely say the voters roll will not be representative of Zimbabwe's voting population."

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), which was monitoring the registration exercise, report that they visited the suburb of Hatcliffe, Harare North, and found that people from outside the constituency were being registered there because they had been allocated stands at a housing project that does not exist. Some were teachers who are resident in places as far away as Gokwe.

ZESN found them in possession of letters from a housing cooperative named Enerst Kadungure Housing Co-op, which they used as proof of residence. It turned each voter given a stand was ordered to provide 5 witnesses who were also registered at the same stand. This means 6 people were being registered using the same non-existent stand.

One of opposition strongholds that reported that no registration teams had been in the area was Masvingo urban. ZESN noted that the mobile teams only covered areas on the outskirts of the city. Their report said the closest to the urban areas was Chikarudzo Business Centre, 20 kilometres away. Masvingo residents told ZESN that officers at the Registrar General's office advised them the registration exercise currently taking place "is for rural areas."

Another registration scam uncovered was in Mbare high-density suburb of Harare. It was discovered vendors at Mbare Musika market who live elsewhere had been forced to register there by youth militia, war veterans and soldiers. One report said ZANU-PF officials had provided vendors with proof of residency in Mbare.

Opposition parties have insisted they will not take part in the elections if the playing field is not level and if there are no wholesale constitutional changes.

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