THOUSANDS of voters have failed to vote in past elections because their names did not appear on the voters' register

By Thulani Munda 

HARARE – Zimbabwe's preparation for the synchronised presidential and parliamentary elections next year is running behind schedule as it emerged yesterday that there is inadequate money for the printing of the voters’ roll. 

Edwell Mtemaringa, chief accountant at the Registrar General's office that prepares the voters’ register told a parliamentary portfolio committee on Defence and Home Affairs yesterday that the voters roll is supposed to be printed this year but this had not yet happened because of inadequate funds. 

“Printing of the voters’ roll has to be done this year so that it will be ready for inspection. We requested $3.5 trillion and were given only $110 billion,” Mtemaringa said. 

Portfolio committee chairperson Claudius Makova told Alois Matonga, acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, to take the issue of the voters’ roll to Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi who would in turn brief his colleagues in Cabinet. 

“This is a serious issue which the permanent secretary should raise with the minister,” said Makova, who is a legislator of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party. 

The voters’ roll requires major surgery to put it in order. For example, the roll is said to contain millions of names of voters who died or who have left the country over the years to work and live abroad.  

Thousands of voters have failed to vote in previous polls either because their names were entered under wrong constituencies or did not appear at all on the roll. 

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party has in the past accused the government of taking advantage of the lack of accurate figures on the number of voters to rig polls. The government denies the charge. 

Meanwhile a senior police officer told the parliamentary committee that preparations by the law enforcement agency to ensure adequate security during polls were being hampered by a lack of resources. 

Deputy Police Commissioner William Sibanda said there was need for the police to recruit and train more officers but there was such a serious shortage of resources with for example, new recruits having to train in their civilian clothes because there are not enough uniforms. 

“There is a serious shortage of uniforms. We can't buy uniforms, even shorts and T-shirts such that people are being trained in their own clothes,” said Sibanda, who was however keen to emphasise that lack of resources or not, the police has acquitted itself well in previous polls. 

A long running economic crisis described by the world bank as the worst in the world outside a war zone has left the Harare government scrounging for cash and resources to keep basic operations running.