By Staff Reporter
MASVINGO – Zanu PF’s cell verification exercise has exposed the ruling party’s failure to account for its membership, with a staggering 236,555 errors recorded in Masvingo Province, as the party grapples with widespread inaccuracies in its grassroots structures.
The shocking statistics were revealed by Zanu PF Politburo member and Deputy Secretary for Security, Tendai Chirau, during a Provincial Coordinating Committee (PCC) meeting held at Masvingo Polytechnic on Tuesday, August 18, 2026.
Chirau disclosed that Chivi district recorded 29,739 errors, Bikita had 24,306, Gutu 37,523, Chiredzi 47,577, Masvingo 34,037, Mwenezi 29,989, while Zaka had 33,384 errors, bringing the provincial total to 236,555.
He attributed the errors to a range of issues, including the use of liberation war names, nicknames, missing ID numbers, and misspelt names that do not match the party’s digital systems.
“There are some comrades still using their liberation war names, and people do not even know their real names. Because of our system, the name is not picked, and it says error. Some have nicknames, and they are the ones written in cell registers, so they won’t be found in our system,” said Chirau.
He said the errors were partly caused by capturers working at speed, resulting in inaccurate data entry, and by a lack of computer literacy among some capturers who were not competent for the task at hand because of nepotism.
“So during the cleaning process, we must ensure that people bring their IDs so that we capture well. We established that the errors were caused at times by the fact that people were rushing, hence making mistakes. At times, the capturers were not competent enough and not computer literate because they are connected to an official. So it is important that this time we have people who are literate and are trained well,” said Chirawu.
He emphasised the need for six competent people per constituency during the cleaning exercise to ensure accuracy.
He also said the party should target registering young people from the age of 15, who can bring birth certificates for verification since they contain ID numbers.
Chirau added that the party was already preparing for the 2030 elections and stressed that cell registers must contain more than half of the total voter population in the province.
“In 2023, we got 307,383 votes in Masvingo, and the total voter population was 723,393. So if we do the maths, by 2030, the voter population will be over a million. We need to make sure that our cell register for the province has more than half of the total voter population who would actually vote,” said Chirau.
However, the Provincial Secretary for Youth Affairs, Delight Mandebvu, offered a different perspective, arguing that the errors were mainly caused by aspiring candidates who manipulated the cell verification process to favour their own supporters ahead of primary elections, before the passing of the 2030 resolution.
“This may be a clarification, and I want you to help us. There is an area that you are leaving out which is critical. The aspiring candidates were the ones with the reason why we have many errors. People were not following procedures because they had their own agendas,” said Mandebvu.
Other delegates raised concerns about the issue of resources, calling on the party to ensure that DCC chairpersons are provided with vehicles so they can travel and monitor the cell registration and verification programmes.
Masvingo Provincial Chairperson Robson Mavhenyengwa emphasised the need to capacitate all party levels so that officials can travel and monitor party business without hindrance. He said, however, the cleaning process would proceed with the limited resources available.
“Sure, we have a challenge with resources. Even I, as the chairperson, sometimes I am instructed to make sure that the programmes go on smoothly. However, we will make sure that this programme goes on even with the limited resources we have,” said Mavhenyengwa.
