Branton Matondo
Following an amplification of the delimitation exercise and publishing of preliminary delimitation report by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), Mutare stakeholders and residents expressed resentment on the process which they said was not only shrouded in partiality but guided by professional malpractice.
Though ZEC intensified efforts on restructuring the 210 constituencies across the country, stakeholders have questioned the lack of proper consultation by ZEC which they said have an impact on the whole process.
Speaking to TellZim at a recently held engagement meeting with residents in Mutare Central constituency, Member of Parliament Innocent Gonese said the delimitation process was not partial enough.
“I would say that the delimitation process was done in a shadowy and haphazard manner. In Harare, for example there should have been four more constituencies. ZEC should have also considered massive rural to urban migration meaning that more constituencies should have been created in urban areas. In actual fact urban areas like Mutare, Harare and Bulawayo have high numbers of registered voters adding up to the total provincial voter registration,” said Gonese.
Residents also blamed the election governing body of poor consultation.
Nomatter Chigwigwi, a resident from Sakubva said a majority of residents from Mutare Central constituency do not know about delimitation while others misinterpret the exercise.
“From the start delimitation created confusion. I believe that it’s a motive driven programme. The exercise has created a lot of confusion because there is unfair distribution of voters in the 19 wards that span across Mutare Central Constituency,” said Chigwigwi.
According to the preliminary ZEC report. Mutare district has a total of 24 polling stations.
Investigations indicate that the 24 polling centers are assigned to wrong wards with some of them more than 20 km apart.
Affected constituencies are Mutare South, North and West, Makoni South and Chimanimani West.
“Apart from that inconsistency, we then have the issue of margin interpretation by ZEC which is clear and simple. This is in reference to the 20percent variance. It’s not supposed to be 40percent but the maximum is supposed to be 20percent,” added Gonese.
Gonese also questioned the manner at which ZEC carried its consultative sessions.
“The consultative process was not done in a proper manner. When you are the overall electoral body, you should consult both the necessary stakeholders and the people because that’s where the vote comes from. Consultations were like ‘take it or leave it’. There was no consultation as to what people thought but more of what ZEC thought. They were simply telling people what they had done without considering community leaders, political parties just to mention a few,” added Gonese.
Contestations over ZEC accountability and transparency have also taken center stage in various provinces across Zimbabwe.
Focal point group Team PACHEDU prepared a report revealing discrepancies existing within the report.
According to the Preliminary report published by ZEC Zimbabwe has 212 constituencies compared to the 210 established making the remaining two ghost constituencies.
There is also speculation that ZEC, which is said to be displaying ‘professional malpractice’ is strategically targeting specific constituencies to garnish votes for the ruling party.
