News / National
'MDC-T tampers with voters' roll,' claims Zanu-PF
22 Apr 2013 at 00:18hrs | Views
THE Mashonaland East Zanu-PF leadership say they have unearthed massive irregularities in the voters' roll where suspected MDC-T officials registered their supporters using other people's addresses and unoccupied, condemned hostels.
The revelations emerged at the party's provincial coordinating committee meeting in Marondera at the weekend.
State Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi who is also the Zanu-PF secretary for security, said they wanted the Registrar General's Office to address the anomaly before the elections.
"A voters' roll must be correct. It must have integrity and nobody should try to mess around with the integrity of a voters' roll," he said.
"As a party, we would want to ensure that the people who are in the voters' roll are the ones who are supposed to be there. If there are any people who are late, they must be removed from the voters' roll.
"If there are any people who want to cheat from one area to another, it should be stopped. If you take Marondera as an example, we are being told that at some houses even the owner of the house has been deleted from the voters' roll and you now have approximately 10 people registered under that address.
"No one is clear where these other people are coming from. Here in Marondera there are those flats that were condemned, nobody is staying there but you get people using that address as their place of residence."
Minister Sekeramayi said there were also problems during the general elections in 2005 where a number of people cited a church as their residence.
He said the irregularities were supposed to be completely eliminated so that elections are held using a clean voters' roll.
"The MDC is in for a whole lot of tricks but we must be vigilant. They are the ones who cry foul at any corner. But we have been advised that they are trying to do certain things that are not correct, we will keep our eyes and ears open and make sure that any such efforts are neutralised.
"We don't want the voters' roll ever to be prostituted. It must be a voters' roll that has the integrity that is expected of it," said Minister Sekeramayi.
He said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was supposed to come up with a position on these irregularities.
A copy of the latest voters' roll for Ward One in Marondera Urban has a number of people who registered using Marondera and Rusike Hostels as their address when the flats were last occupied in 2003 when they were condemned.
Some of the names that appeared in the voters' roll for the same ward include Clodia Chazungurira whose given address was 73 Rusike Hostel, Annah Changa's address was 73 Marondera Hostel, Tonderai Charumei, 47 Marondera Hostel and Taurai Charumei in room 50 Marondera Hostel while Eunice Changa's given address was room 80 Marondera Hostel.
Several people used the same address yet were not known by the owner of the house.
Some of the people in the voters' roll who used the same address were Donald Mazire, Edwin Mazarure and Robert Mazire. They all used address Number 1 Njiva Street.
Zanu-PF chairperson for Ward 1 Doubt Laisi, said these people were not known by the owners of the house.
"Number 1 Njiva Street is owned by a couple Chanetsa and Blessing Marufu. They said they did not know these people who used their address.
"We suspect these people were being bused from other areas to come and vote in Marondera Central come elections.
"There are many people who registered using Number 1 Njiva Street yet they are not known by the owner of the house. Some of the people in the voters' roll are not even known in this area," said Laisi.
Evangeline Nyamagodo, who is the Zanu-PF secretary for administration in Ward 1 Urban, said other people had also used their address to register.
"As you can see there is this Wizman Wizman Soko who used our address Number 17 Saimani Street in Dombotombo as his address but we don't know him. The house was bought from the city council by my mother more than 40 years ago and we never stayed with a person with that name. These are people who are being brought here by the
MDC-T so that they can vote from here," she said.
Some of the people who used non-existent addresses are Nelson Mbirimbido whose address is written as Magu Butchery yet there is no such butchery in Dombotombo while Edmore Tiyani's address is given as Village Dakature, Chief Ndanga, Zaka. Ketty Hwata used Farm 59, Marondera as his address and Bessie Cheche used Ndomora Farm, Marondera as his address as well.
However, MDC-T chairperson for Mashonaland East province Mr Phiniel Denga, distanced his party from the anomalies.
"How is that possible that someone can go and register without proof of residence? No one can register without water or electricity bills.
"Some of these accusations might be malicious. We are also coming across challenges as a party that landlords to our supporters are being victimised for housing them," Mr Denga said.
Sekeramayi urged party officials in the province to embark on a massive voter mobilisation and education exercise ahead of the harmonised polls scheduled for sometime this year.
He said Zanu-PF lost some constituencies in the last harmonised elections because of voter apathy as less than a quarter of registered voters cast their ballots.
"We have to go to the people and encourage them to vote at the elections," said Sekeramayi.
"They should not delegate other people to vote. Let's make our people go out in their numbers to vote because we want to make sure voter turnout reaches over 85 percent.
"We want to win the election resoundingly. We want to make sure that when President Mugabe wins, it will be so resounding that there won't be need for votes recount.
"When we mobilise people, we have to be resilient. We have to do better than opposition parties in mobilising people. Even for those who were not interested in politics, let's approach them kindly. Let's respect them giving them the dignity they deserve. They will listen to you if you respect them."
Zanu-PF chairperson for the province Ray Kaukonde urged party officials to be disciplined in carrying out party activities.
"We have a problem with some party officials who are not disciplined. We are looking at ways of bringing discipline in the party so we are wondering if we should revert back to the liberation era where we used the sjambok to do the 35 route (35 strokes)," said Kaukonde.
He warned aspiring MPs for Goromonzi South who are accused of dividing the party ahead of the primary elections.
"We hear that Amai Makamba, Sharon Mugabe and Patronella Kagonye are causing problems in the constituency but we are saying they should stop it. If they don't do that we will suspend them. Instead they should concentrate on registering voters for the party than being selfish," said Kaukonde.
"We also heard that there are some Politburo members from other provinces who are planting their proxies in our province but we are saying they are playing with fire and doing it to a wrong province. We will expose them if they don't stop that nonsense," said Kaukonde.
Kaukonde said the province would not condone candidate imposition adding that any corrupt people would be dealt with.
The revelations emerged at the party's provincial coordinating committee meeting in Marondera at the weekend.
State Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi who is also the Zanu-PF secretary for security, said they wanted the Registrar General's Office to address the anomaly before the elections.
"A voters' roll must be correct. It must have integrity and nobody should try to mess around with the integrity of a voters' roll," he said.
"As a party, we would want to ensure that the people who are in the voters' roll are the ones who are supposed to be there. If there are any people who are late, they must be removed from the voters' roll.
"If there are any people who want to cheat from one area to another, it should be stopped. If you take Marondera as an example, we are being told that at some houses even the owner of the house has been deleted from the voters' roll and you now have approximately 10 people registered under that address.
"No one is clear where these other people are coming from. Here in Marondera there are those flats that were condemned, nobody is staying there but you get people using that address as their place of residence."
Minister Sekeramayi said there were also problems during the general elections in 2005 where a number of people cited a church as their residence.
He said the irregularities were supposed to be completely eliminated so that elections are held using a clean voters' roll.
"The MDC is in for a whole lot of tricks but we must be vigilant. They are the ones who cry foul at any corner. But we have been advised that they are trying to do certain things that are not correct, we will keep our eyes and ears open and make sure that any such efforts are neutralised.
"We don't want the voters' roll ever to be prostituted. It must be a voters' roll that has the integrity that is expected of it," said Minister Sekeramayi.
He said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was supposed to come up with a position on these irregularities.
A copy of the latest voters' roll for Ward One in Marondera Urban has a number of people who registered using Marondera and Rusike Hostels as their address when the flats were last occupied in 2003 when they were condemned.
Some of the names that appeared in the voters' roll for the same ward include Clodia Chazungurira whose given address was 73 Rusike Hostel, Annah Changa's address was 73 Marondera Hostel, Tonderai Charumei, 47 Marondera Hostel and Taurai Charumei in room 50 Marondera Hostel while Eunice Changa's given address was room 80 Marondera Hostel.
Several people used the same address yet were not known by the owner of the house.
Some of the people in the voters' roll who used the same address were Donald Mazire, Edwin Mazarure and Robert Mazire. They all used address Number 1 Njiva Street.
Zanu-PF chairperson for Ward 1 Doubt Laisi, said these people were not known by the owners of the house.
"Number 1 Njiva Street is owned by a couple Chanetsa and Blessing Marufu. They said they did not know these people who used their address.
"We suspect these people were being bused from other areas to come and vote in Marondera Central come elections.
"There are many people who registered using Number 1 Njiva Street yet they are not known by the owner of the house. Some of the people in the voters' roll are not even known in this area," said Laisi.
Evangeline Nyamagodo, who is the Zanu-PF secretary for administration in Ward 1 Urban, said other people had also used their address to register.
"As you can see there is this Wizman Wizman Soko who used our address Number 17 Saimani Street in Dombotombo as his address but we don't know him. The house was bought from the city council by my mother more than 40 years ago and we never stayed with a person with that name. These are people who are being brought here by the
MDC-T so that they can vote from here," she said.
Some of the people who used non-existent addresses are Nelson Mbirimbido whose address is written as Magu Butchery yet there is no such butchery in Dombotombo while Edmore Tiyani's address is given as Village Dakature, Chief Ndanga, Zaka. Ketty Hwata used Farm 59, Marondera as his address and Bessie Cheche used Ndomora Farm, Marondera as his address as well.
However, MDC-T chairperson for Mashonaland East province Mr Phiniel Denga, distanced his party from the anomalies.
"How is that possible that someone can go and register without proof of residence? No one can register without water or electricity bills.
"Some of these accusations might be malicious. We are also coming across challenges as a party that landlords to our supporters are being victimised for housing them," Mr Denga said.
Sekeramayi urged party officials in the province to embark on a massive voter mobilisation and education exercise ahead of the harmonised polls scheduled for sometime this year.
He said Zanu-PF lost some constituencies in the last harmonised elections because of voter apathy as less than a quarter of registered voters cast their ballots.
"We have to go to the people and encourage them to vote at the elections," said Sekeramayi.
"They should not delegate other people to vote. Let's make our people go out in their numbers to vote because we want to make sure voter turnout reaches over 85 percent.
"We want to win the election resoundingly. We want to make sure that when President Mugabe wins, it will be so resounding that there won't be need for votes recount.
"When we mobilise people, we have to be resilient. We have to do better than opposition parties in mobilising people. Even for those who were not interested in politics, let's approach them kindly. Let's respect them giving them the dignity they deserve. They will listen to you if you respect them."
Zanu-PF chairperson for the province Ray Kaukonde urged party officials to be disciplined in carrying out party activities.
"We have a problem with some party officials who are not disciplined. We are looking at ways of bringing discipline in the party so we are wondering if we should revert back to the liberation era where we used the sjambok to do the 35 route (35 strokes)," said Kaukonde.
He warned aspiring MPs for Goromonzi South who are accused of dividing the party ahead of the primary elections.
"We hear that Amai Makamba, Sharon Mugabe and Patronella Kagonye are causing problems in the constituency but we are saying they should stop it. If they don't do that we will suspend them. Instead they should concentrate on registering voters for the party than being selfish," said Kaukonde.
"We also heard that there are some Politburo members from other provinces who are planting their proxies in our province but we are saying they are playing with fire and doing it to a wrong province. We will expose them if they don't stop that nonsense," said Kaukonde.
Kaukonde said the province would not condone candidate imposition adding that any corrupt people would be dealt with.
Source - TH
