MDC-T in door-to-door voter registration campaign

OPPOSITION MDC-T youths yesterday launched a door-to-door voter registration campaign in Harare to urge party members to register as voters ahead of next year's general elections.

Speaking at the programme launch in Mufakose high-density suburb, MDC-T vice-president Nelson Chamisa said it was crucial for young people to play an active role in national politics the same way pre-independence youths took the colonial Ian Smith regime by its horns.

Chamisa said the campaign dubbed, Bereka Mwana Tiende, would soon be rolled out countrywide.

"It is crucial to have the millennials who have attained the age of 18 to have a say in the politics of their country which is now in the doldrums. They are the majority and can make a difference in any election. They have to be on the voters' roll for them to participate," Chamisa said.

"The youths in the party have a role to play. They have to emulate decisions of the young [Robert] Mugabe, young [late Josiah Magama] Tongogara and [late Lookout] Masuku who participated in the affairs of their country as youths."

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has not yet formally opened the voter registration exercise as it was still to procure the biometric voter registration (BVR) kits to use for the new roll.

The procurement of the registration kits stalled recently after opposition parties filed a court challenge to stop government from single-handedly sourcing the BVR kits. United Nations agencies had initially offered to provide the BVR kits before government turned down the offer, a move viewed by opposition parties as another attempt to tinker with next year's election results.