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Walter Mswazie Masvingo Correspondent
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has dispatched 152 voter educators in Masvingo district for a 16-day voter education blitz amid calls for the officers to be responsible during the programme. This is the second voter education blitz after ZEC dispatched other teams in Mwenezi, Chiredzi and Chivi Districts two weeks ago.

In an interview, ZEC provincial election officer Mr Zex Pudurayi said the 16 teams with a supervisor for each group were dispatched yesterday to their respective wards after undergoing a one day induction workshop at the Civic Centre on Sunday. He said the latest blitz will cover Gutu and Bikita together with Masvingo North which was not covered in the previous programme.

“We have launched the second voter education blitz in Masvingo. We have dispatched another team of 152 voter educators which will also cover the whole of Chivi District after the first blitz covered only two wards,” he said. Mr Pudurayi added: “The officials will be using different forms of educating people on the importance of voter registration.

“These officials are using different forms which include door-to-door campaign, group voter education, going to gatherings, road shows or even in buses, they are going where people are so that the word would reach everybody.” He said the officers will have ZEC bibs for easy identification.

“We expect all teams to cover all the stipulated polling stations within the given period. We also expect them to conduct themselves in a manner that does not put ZEC’s name into disrepute,” he said. Meanwhile, Mr Pudurayi said the Biometric Voter Registration exercise is now going on smoothly after a slow start given the reluctance of potential voters to register.

“In Masvingo province, we have registered around 122 000 as of yesterday (Sunday). People are now visiting our centres after a slow start in a number of districts especially in Mwenezi.” ZEC is conducting voter education throughout the country in readiness for harmonised elections scheduled for next year amid confirmation that more than one million voters have so far registered under BVR, nationwide.