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Tsvangirai questions voter's roll credibility
01 Jul 2013 at 17:33hrs | Views
The MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in his capacity as the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe today questioned the credibility of the voters' roll ahead of the coming elections after it has emerged that an Israli company, Nikuv International Projects is working on the roll in Harare.
Tsvangirai was in a meeting with the Justice Rita Makarau, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson and other ZEC commissioners at his government offices.
The meeting was meant to appraise the Tsvangirai on ZEC's preparedness in running the coming elections and how the mobile voter registration exercise was proceeding.
Speaking through his spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai said Nikuv had a bad track record of tampering with the voters' roll in many countries that have held elections in the past.
"It (Nikuv) has a bad record of tampering with the voters' roll and it is a matter that is on public record," Tamborinyoka said.
In response to the Tsvangirai's concerns, Justice Makarau promised to look into the issue.
Nikuv is working on the voters' roll at the Defence House, the headquarters of the Zimbabwe Defence Force and the company is alleged to be a front for the Israeli spy agency Mossad.
It is unclear what Nikuv's involvement in this coming election is but it specialises in population registration and election systems. The company is said to be working under the direction of Daniel Tonde Nhepera, the deputy head of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).
The MDC-T says it emerged during the meeting that over 50 000 police officers had applied for special voting permission but the Minister of Home Affairs; Theresa Makone said this was not possible as the police force did not have such a high number of officers.
On the slow pace of the mobile registration exercise, which has seen long queues while some people are being turned away by officials from the Registrar General's Office, Justice Makarau said ZEC would look into the complaints.
She said no one should be turned away because he or she does not have an affidavit but could secure an affidavit from the registration centre.
The mobile voter registration exercise ends on 09 July. Justice Makarau said ZEC needed US$131 million for the elections and the Treasury through the Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti would look into it.
Tsvangirai was in a meeting with the Justice Rita Makarau, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson and other ZEC commissioners at his government offices.
The meeting was meant to appraise the Tsvangirai on ZEC's preparedness in running the coming elections and how the mobile voter registration exercise was proceeding.
Speaking through his spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai said Nikuv had a bad track record of tampering with the voters' roll in many countries that have held elections in the past.
"It (Nikuv) has a bad record of tampering with the voters' roll and it is a matter that is on public record," Tamborinyoka said.
Nikuv is working on the voters' roll at the Defence House, the headquarters of the Zimbabwe Defence Force and the company is alleged to be a front for the Israeli spy agency Mossad.
It is unclear what Nikuv's involvement in this coming election is but it specialises in population registration and election systems. The company is said to be working under the direction of Daniel Tonde Nhepera, the deputy head of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).
The MDC-T says it emerged during the meeting that over 50 000 police officers had applied for special voting permission but the Minister of Home Affairs; Theresa Makone said this was not possible as the police force did not have such a high number of officers.
On the slow pace of the mobile registration exercise, which has seen long queues while some people are being turned away by officials from the Registrar General's Office, Justice Makarau said ZEC would look into the complaints.
She said no one should be turned away because he or she does not have an affidavit but could secure an affidavit from the registration centre.
The mobile voter registration exercise ends on 09 July. Justice Makarau said ZEC needed US$131 million for the elections and the Treasury through the Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti would look into it.
Source - Byo24News
