…Community interests factored in beside numbers
Fredrick Moyo
The constituency delimitation process that began on June 1 2022 is reportedly set to result in Masvingo province losing two constituencies from the current 26 to 24 it has emerged..
According to a senior government official, the province is likely to lose two seats with Masvingo district poised to retain its five from the remaining 24.
“Masvingo is set to lose two constituencies to the ongoing delimitation process. What is happening is that the process is not solely influenced by the number of registered voters and the results of the recently held population and household census, but other community interests. For example, the new setup is set to separate Chiefdoms from encroaching in to each other in terms of areas of jurisdiction.
“The criterion used is beyond the issue of numbers of registered voters and or even the results of census, but other factors are to be considered and basically these go beyond issue of numbers. At the end some legislators are set to lose constituencies in the process. Masvingo district will in the end have five constituencies,” said the source.
Initially there were some reports the province was going to be left with 22 seats after losing four in the delimitation process.
However, contacted for comment Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Masvingo Deputy Provincial Elections Officer Maxwell Ncube said the issue of Masvingo losing seats is just speculation for now.
“First and foremost, delimitation is an issue of statistics. As long as those statistics are not that good, it is allowed to encroach into the next community. It is something that is considered but it’s not only community interests which we consider as we also look at means of communication and physical features as well,” said Ncube.
He also confirmed that delimitation is underway and at an advanced stage.
“Delimitation is in process and recently we held consultations at national level with stakeholders including political parties, media and some other people in the delimitation process. We are yet to start consultations at provincial level but something is brewing while a lot is done on the ground in preparation for delimitation.
“For now we are looking at the voters roll so that we come up with proper statistics and we will also have a voters’ roll inspection so that people check their names and rectify errors if any,” he added.
Currently Masvingo has 26 constituencies across the province’s seven districts: Bikita has 3, Chivi 3, Chiredzi 4, Gutu having 5, Masvingo 5, Mwenezi 2 and Zaka has 4.
