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New Constitution-making process - Index of articles
Glen Norah - Chembira community workshop
Zimbabwe
Election Support Network
October 19, 2012
On the 18th
of October, ZESN held a community workshop in Glen Norah Constituency
at Chembira Community Centre Ward 28. The workshop was attended
by 69 participants (36 males and 33 females). The workshop discussed
the role of ZESN in national and local elections and its different
programming areas. The thematic issues that were discussed include;
citizen participation, peace building and conflict transformation,
the new electoral law, the constitutional
reform and the possible steps after the Second All Stakeholders
Conference.
The workshop
discussed a number of issues including the newly gazetted Electoral
Act. Participants welcomed some of the amendments to the Electoral
Act however there were strong arguments on the Citizenship Act which
they said greatly affected people who have been resident in Zimbabwe
for the rest of their life's and have never known any other
country. One participant said, "The Citizenship Act should
be amended as it is one of the instruments used against voters . . . ..,
the process of renouncing tiresome especially to some of us who
were born in Zimbabwe, we feel it is an instrument to silence certain
sections of the society . . . ".
The workshop
also discussed the state of the voters' roll, some participants
felt the processes of auctioning the deletion of dead relatives
is burdensome. There were recommendations that the Registrar General's
office should automatically delete dead voters as soon as death
certificates or burial orders are issued rather than wait for relatives
of the dead to approach their offices for deletion of dead voters
form the roll. In relation to the availability of information pertaining
to electoral processes, some participants said that the voter registration
centres are not well publicized hence that lack of information resulted
in apathy during elections. Participants recommended that the centre's
be manned by people who are efficient and dedicated to their work.
Poor social
service delivery came out from the participants as one of the problems
they have face in their community and lacked information and knowledge
on how to approach the departments for effective service delivery
to the citizens. Problems highlighted included among others; garbage
collection which they said poses health challenges in the whole
of Highfield District, poor roads, poor lighting among others.
Participants
therefore commended ZESN for its efforts in creating platforms where
communities can meet and discuss issues affecting them.
Visit the ZESN
fact sheet
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