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Zimbabwe's Elections 2013 - Index of Articles
Mudede
unable to justify failure to avail voters’ roll
Sofia Mapuranga,
The Zimbabwean
August 03, 2013
http://www.thezimbabwean.co/news/zimbabwe/67461/mudede-unable-to-justify-failure.html
The Registrar General
of Voters, Tobaiwa Mudede, today failed to disclose the name of
the Movement for Democratic Change official who is purported to
have collected the voters’ roll from his office on July 31
and the reasons why his office did not avail the electronic list
to interested parties before elections.
Addressing journalists
at Munhumutapa offices in Harare today, Mudede refuted claims from
the MDC that his office did not avail the voters’ roll when
the MDC formations requested it.
He said: “These
people have not come to us to ask for the voters’ roll. What
we have seen are just pieces of paper in the form of petitions and
letters from them. Our office made a decision to give free copies
of the voters’ roll to interested parties and those who wanted
it came and collected. The MDC insisted on the electronic one,”
he said.
The MDC described
the
July 31 poll as a “sham election which had the potential
to put the country in a crisis”.
The African
Union observer mission today revealed that the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission violated Section 20 and 21 of the Electoral
Act when it failed to avail the final copy of the voters roll
for public scrutiny.
“The voters’
roll was made publicly available two days before the election, rather
late for meaningful inspection and verification by voters, parties
and candidates to take place,” read the statement.
Asked which between the
electronic or hard copy voters’ rolls came first, Mudede refused
to respond and redirected the question to his Information and Technology
officer only identified as Machira.
“I am entitled
not to answer certain questions, and it is important that we do
not dwell on issues that we have discussed because there are others
wishing to have their questions responded to,” said an evasive
Mudede.
He revealed that soon
after the court ruling compelling his office to give copies of the
voters’ roll to the MDC, he personally made sure that the
request was actioned to avoid unnecessary claims’ from the
MDCs.
“The idea of coming
to my office at 4 pm was to discredit me that I had not complied
with a court ruling. I am a meticulous individual and those interested
to know the name of the official who collected the whole voters’
roll can come with me to my office and I will furnish you with the
details,” he said.
He told journalists that
the MDC representative had collected voters’ rolls of all
the country’s 1 958 wards.
“We cannot have
a perfect voters’ roll and definitely, it is expected to have
a 10 percent margin of error but I am in control of the registration
process. Allegations that the voters roll was manipulated are false,”
he said.
Mudede accused the MDC
and non- governmental organisations working in Zimbabwe of creating
their ‘own voters’ roll’.
“They will have
to explain themselves. Where did they get copies of the voters’
roll? It is not part of my voters’ roll and even the wards
are different,” he said.
The voters’ roll
has been a contentious issue, with other parties saying it was used
by the RG’s office in cahoots with Zanu-PF to rig the Wednesday
polls.
.
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