Next Zimbabwe General Election: Exorcise Tobaiwa Mudede's Ghost

For over a decade now Zimbabwe elections results have been rightly discredited as being fraudulent, rigged and misrepresentative of the wishes of the majority Zimbabweans. Among the most common reasons sighted in support of this negative view is the integrity of the Tobaiwa Mudede compiled voters roll that has too many errors to be acceptable as the basis of any credible electoral process.

Often cited irregularities are multiple replications of identical name entries on different Constituencies, entries of names of persons under the age of 18 years or too many entries of people above 100 years as well as existence of   names of known deceased voters and too many voters resident at one address while many intending voters are turned away as their names do not appear on the voter’s roll.

At present all evidence points possibility that the next general elections will only be held following the outcome of the Constitutional reform referendum agreed on 15 September 2008 which justified the imposition of a coalition government by SADC with the concurrence of the AU and the UN notwithstanding various and vigorous Zanu PF and the Prof Ncube led MDC efforts to derail the conclusion of the Constitution reform agenda for different motives.

Whereas Zanu PF wanted the program delayed to justify general elections under the current flawed legislation and rules that have enabled the ruling Party to manipulate election results, The MDC faction led by Prof Ncube wanted elections delayed because none of its candidates are confident of retaining parliamentary seats in any Constituency.

Be that as it may the delayed conclusion of the Constitutional reform initiative may just turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the bankrupt Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC) to construct a fresh voters’ roll without relying on the corrupted Tobaiwa Mudede roll.

With a little imagination and innovation the ZEC can kill the proverbial two birds with one stone during the delayed Constitution reform programme. Using the same resources and funds allocated for staging the Constitutional referendum, ZEC can devise a voting process that allows anyone wishing to vote to also update their data on the voters’ roll. Referendum voting must take place over 1 day and Zimbabweans over 18 years need only produce the accepted identity document –Metal National registration card, valid Passport or Driver’s licence or Original Birth Certificate -to be allowed to vote in the referendum. Before casting their vote wherever they may be during the referendum election officers must record the voters’ name, date of birth, national registration number, residential address and constituency and ward code number which they want to be registered under as voters for general election purposes. These details can be recorded by elections officers within a minute on a preformatted data gathering sheet and will in no way slow down the voting process any longer than does the current process of looking up names on the roll.

As the voters cast their votes the data captured about them can be captured on a laptop by another election officer and after the referendum the data can be downloaded onto a central database to produce the National voter’s roll. Using the sorting capability in spreadsheets any data duplication where a voter voted at more than on polling station –which should not be possible if strict vetting using indelible ink marks is observed- or data was erroneously captured, this can be easily detected and the voter can be tracked from the given address and records can be updated accordingly. The ultimate product will be an up to date voters’ roll that can henceforth be used in the next general election with minimal complaints about its integrity.

The importance of an up to date voter’s roll in holding credible elections does not need any more justification than that it forms the basis for delimitating electoral Constituencies and Wards. Further the easy with which Zimbabwean qualified voters can register as voters during the Constitutional referendum anywhere in the world will provide the ZEC an indication of how easy it can be for Zimbabweans to be allowed to vote in general elections from wherever they are resident and more importantly will provide the country with invaluable statistics of the number of citizens it has abroad which information can be useful for future planning.

Given these advantages it would be unforgivable stupidity if the ZEC does not take advantage of the Constitutional referendum to craft its own untainted Voter’s Roll at no extra cost and then start moaning about lack of funds to compile the roll and delimitate constituencies for the general election which we all know will be necessary after the Constitutional referendum.

Other than an open intent to line the pockets of its ranks from unjustified allowances there is no rational reason why ZEC would allow this opportunity to pass.  The Justice Mtambanengwe chaired ZEC must show a difference and economically inspired leadership in this regard by proactively preparing to use the Constitutional referendum processes as a stepping stone for the compilation of the Voters rolls. Political parties must also put pressure on the ZEC to save costs on the fiscus by using this opportunity to achieve the object of increasing voter turnout for the referendum and there from compiling a credible National Voter’s roll that would minimise disputes after the elections.