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Munyaradzi Doma in Zvishavane
Inadequate publicity has affected the biometric voter registration (BVR) programme, which has so far attracted a few people, Zvishavane District elections officer Mr Rigressa Dube has said. Mr Dube said villagers were not aware of some of the requirements while others had completely shunned the programme.

“The exercise has so far progressed smoothly as we have not faced many challenges, but we have noticed that the publicity has not been good enough. Some people are deciding not to come because they are not aware of all they need to know, especially the issue of metal identity cards.” Mr Dube said there were people who still think that the metal IDs are not acceptable under the BVR programme.

“Others are queuing for plastic IDs while still holding to the metal ones and this is only being discovered when they are applying for new IDs and they are being told that the former are acceptable,” he said. Mr Dube applauded efforts by local politicians who had been bringing people from their constituencies to register.

“It’s good that local politicians have been bringing in their people to vote,” he said. “They (politicians) come with groups of people who then register, hence making the exercise better.” In separate interviews, potential voters said most of the information they had was second hand, especially from colleagues. Some were also inquiring about identity documents for their children, while others were of the belief that the exercise would start next year. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is targeting to register at least seven million voters countrywide ahead of next year’s harmonised elections.