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Dear Registrar General Mr. Mudede, thank you but retire today
Rejoice Ngwenya
April 29, 2013

I would like to congratulate you for being one of the longest serving civil servants in Zimbabwe. If my memory serves me right, you have been supervising the registration of births, deaths and voters for over 30 years. It is inconceivable how a man can retain interest and proficiency that long in a government job!

Simultaneously, I want to pass my excited condolences to you. I know. It is bad manners to be ‘excited’ about condolences, but this ‘accolade’ is certainly not about death. I am elated that this is the last year you will ever ‘preside over’ a Zimbabwean election in your life. I say so, Mr. Mudede, oozing with confidence. On numerous occasions, you have confessed near comatose allegiance to Zanu-PF, and this has burdened you with a litany of accusations. I am not a Pentecostal Prophet, but after the 2013 general elections, there will definitely be a new MDC government. You, Mr. Mudede are one in thousands of high-profile Zanu-PF cronies that will be ‘persuaded’ to leave public office. And when you do, there will be wild, widespread and intense celebrations as never have been experienced before. Millions of Zimbabwean democrats at home and abroad will dance, wine and dine on your account!

But before you accuse me of prematurely celebrating a score, I want to stress that your 30-year ‘reign’ as Registrar General deserves overdue retirement. Ever since we started using a national voters’ roll, political parties opposed to Zanu-PF have perennially complained of inaccurate entries. I am not a statistician myself, but it is not rocket science to merely enter a name, identification number, block, ward and constituency of a person in a book. Zanu-PF village headmen do it all the time! Besides, your office actually issues out births and deaths certificates. Why has it been such a torturous task, Mr. Mudede, to have a system that automatically includes everyone who is above 18 years in while deleting the 500 000 who have died from the voters’ roll?

More reasons for me to celebrate your overdue retirement: our new constitution and its electoral laws are clear that your successor will only concentrate on simple tasks of registering births and deaths. The transgression of secretly removing known MDC supporters from the voters’ roll, names being duplicated in different voting districts, deliberate voter registration delays, ghost voters, people using expropriated farms as ‘proof’ of residencies – will be a thing of the past!

Finally, Mr. Mudede, I would appreciate if you do one noble thing for me before you are ‘involuntarily’ retired to your ‘highly mechanized land reform farm’. I know that by now, there are almost two million people that have just turned 18. There are also close to one million Zimbabweans in the Diaspora who would like to vote. Please do the correct thing and register them without making ridiculous demands of proof of residence, letters from Zanu-PF chiefs, headmen and ZESA electricity bills. Mr. Mudede, every adult Zimbabwean has a constitutional right to vote, without frivolous impediments. As lawyer, I trust that you really would want to leave a good legacy. Otherwise, forgive me for sounding personal. Zimbabweans have had to put up with your political antics for too long. I am sure you can appreciate why we look forward to the new MDC government later this year ‘involuntarily’ retiring to your ‘highly mechanized land reform farm’!

Yours sincerely,
Frustrated voter.

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