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Sydney Kawadza Masvingo Bureau Chief
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is undertaking a mop-up exercise in the province to cover areas where some potential voters could have failed to register. The first three phases of the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) registration exercise managed to register 431 113 people. Provincial statistics indicate that 249 953 females and 181 161 males are eligible voters.

However, 9 951 potential voters were turned away from 338 registration centres set up in Masvingo province as at December 1 this year. Masvingo plans to register 754 314 voters by the end of the fourth phase. In an interview yesterday, ZEC Masvingo provincial election officer Mr Zex Pudurai said the mop-up exercise would be in Chiredzi, Mwenezi, Chivi and Masvingo districts.

“The mop-up exercise would cover areas that we targeted in the first and second phase of the programme. When we launched the first and second phases, the Registrar-General’s Office was concurrently issuing out national identity cards, but we finished before they completed their exercise. We have since discovered that most villagers have their IDs and these are the people we are targeting in the mop-up exercise.”

He added: “We have also noticed that quite a number of potential voters were turned away for a variety of reasons.”

Mr Pudurai said all district registrars were commissioners of oath who can assist with signing affidavits.

“The legislators will assist in confirming the proof of residence for potential voters, while in urban areas ward councillors can also perform the same duties,” he said.

Mr Pudurai, however, said the registration process in the province was going according to schedule.