News / National
Treasury releases US$8m to kick start mobile voter registration
24 Apr 2013 at 22:16hrs | Views
TREASURY has released US$8 million to kick start mobile voter registration next Monday as the country gears for watershed harmonised elections expected this year.
The money is part of US$13 million needed to carry out the exercise that would be supervised by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa confirmed the development yesterday.
"I have secured US$8 million from the acting Minister of Finance, Elton Mangoma, to kick start mobile voter registration," he said.
"Disbursement of the funds to the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs will be done tomorrow (Thursday). We expect the massive voter registration exercise to commence on Monday."
Minister Chinamasa could not be drawn into revealing how long the exercise would take.
Mobile voter registration should have started on January 3, but failed to take off because Treasury had not released funds to the Registrar-General's Office.
Voter registration is a continuous process, but Government conducts a registration blitz towards each election to cater for people who would not have registered.
Minister Mangoma could not be reached for comment yesterday.
This comes after Cabinet on Tuesday instructed Treasury to source funds for mobile voter registration.
At least one vehicle would be required per each of the 1 958 wards countrywide.
The voters' roll is ward-based and one is required to produce proof of residence to be registered as a voter.
Proof may include sworn affidavits, utility bills or confirmation letters from chiefs or headmen in rural areas.
Cabinet also directed the RG's Office to replace lost identity documents for all Zimbabweans free of charge until the last day of voter registration for the forthcoming harmonised polls.
Those not on the voters' roll can be entered automatically.
After the elections, the cost of replacing identity documents lost through negligence would be reduced from US$10 to US$5.
Those who lose the documents through circumstances beyond their control, Cabinet said, would get replacements free of charge.
Aliens were also granted the nod to get identity cards with immediate effect so that they could register as voters.
They were granted voting rights in the recently endorsed Copac draft constitution.
The RG's office was also directed to provide an electronic version of the voters' roll to all stakeholders, while the printed version would cost US$5 000 per copy.
In the past, the voters' roll cost about US$30 000 which political parties in the inclusive Government said was not affordable.
Married women who moved from their original birth places would be registered in their new places of residence upon authentication by husband, husband's relatives, their children, neighbours, elderly people and or traditional leaders.
Apart from the voter registration exercise, the RG's office is expected to deal with irregularities picked up by Zanu-PF in Marondera where suspected MDC-T activists were registered using fake addresses.
The suspects registered their supporters using other people's addresses and unoccupied, condemned hostels.
The money is part of US$13 million needed to carry out the exercise that would be supervised by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa confirmed the development yesterday.
"I have secured US$8 million from the acting Minister of Finance, Elton Mangoma, to kick start mobile voter registration," he said.
"Disbursement of the funds to the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs will be done tomorrow (Thursday). We expect the massive voter registration exercise to commence on Monday."
Minister Chinamasa could not be drawn into revealing how long the exercise would take.
Mobile voter registration should have started on January 3, but failed to take off because Treasury had not released funds to the Registrar-General's Office.
Voter registration is a continuous process, but Government conducts a registration blitz towards each election to cater for people who would not have registered.
Minister Mangoma could not be reached for comment yesterday.
This comes after Cabinet on Tuesday instructed Treasury to source funds for mobile voter registration.
At least one vehicle would be required per each of the 1 958 wards countrywide.
The voters' roll is ward-based and one is required to produce proof of residence to be registered as a voter.
Proof may include sworn affidavits, utility bills or confirmation letters from chiefs or headmen in rural areas.
Cabinet also directed the RG's Office to replace lost identity documents for all Zimbabweans free of charge until the last day of voter registration for the forthcoming harmonised polls.
Those not on the voters' roll can be entered automatically.
After the elections, the cost of replacing identity documents lost through negligence would be reduced from US$10 to US$5.
Those who lose the documents through circumstances beyond their control, Cabinet said, would get replacements free of charge.
Aliens were also granted the nod to get identity cards with immediate effect so that they could register as voters.
They were granted voting rights in the recently endorsed Copac draft constitution.
The RG's office was also directed to provide an electronic version of the voters' roll to all stakeholders, while the printed version would cost US$5 000 per copy.
In the past, the voters' roll cost about US$30 000 which political parties in the inclusive Government said was not affordable.
Married women who moved from their original birth places would be registered in their new places of residence upon authentication by husband, husband's relatives, their children, neighbours, elderly people and or traditional leaders.
Apart from the voter registration exercise, the RG's office is expected to deal with irregularities picked up by Zanu-PF in Marondera where suspected MDC-T activists were registered using fake addresses.
The suspects registered their supporters using other people's addresses and unoccupied, condemned hostels.
Source - TH
