Voters' roll to be updated

The Zimbabwe government has announced it will embark on a countrywide exercise to update the voters' roll ahead of parliamentary elections, due in March 2005. "We are in the process of mobilising manpower and material resources for the exercise - we want to ensure that all eligible voters are registered in time for the general elections," home affairs minister Kembo Mohadi announced over the weekend. "All the necessary financial and resource materials are in place. Personnel from the Registrar General's Office and additional staff will be deployed to all districts across the country," he added. The Registrar General's Office (RGO) falls under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The government-appointed Electoral Supervisory Commission (ECS) will also complement the registration process with a voter education programme. The ECS is a small office with a meagre budget and staff seconded from the Ministry of Justice. In response to Modadi's announcement, Paul Themba-Nyathi, spokeman for the opposition Movement for Democratic change, questioned the impartiality of the RGO and the RCS. "We cannot trust them in handling the next election. We have complained of their alignment before, and expressed our willingness to be involved to government before, and we repeat that now," said Nyathi. He insisted that Zimbabwe's election laws needed to be overhauled before the 2005 election, to enable a free and fair poll. "They [the elections] should take place in a democratised environment and that means: no to state-appointed electoral supervisory commissions. The RG's office should also be stripped of the monopoly it enjoys in conducting elections," said Nyathi. According to figures compiled before the presidential election in 2002, Zimbabwe had 5.6 million eligible voters. But the Registrar General's Office has been accused of running an outdated voters roll, which the opposition alleges has included ghost voters.