ZESN successfully lobbied for electoral administrative changes which have since been effected. These include, among others, ▪ Voting in one day ▪ Counting of votes and announcement of results insitu ▪ Use of translucent ballot boxes The organisation has, also, successfully campaigned, through the media and public gatherings, for electoral reforms, a call that other civic organisations, legislators and the general public has headed, evident in ZESN’s successful chairing of the civil society leaders who met with the SADC mandated South African mediation team. ZESN has, since 2000, been observing elections in the country and producing observers’ reports that have been useful as reference documents in debates aimed at electoral reforms. The observation process has helped, to some extent, deter electoral fraud and minimise electionrelated violence. Challenges As I have outlined in my presentation of the Zimbabwean situation at the beginning, the crisis in Zimbabwe is about governance. It is about the constitution, the various oppressive laws that have helped the ruling party entrench its will and policies on the general public regardless of the detrimental effects realised so far. Movements aimed at restoring democracy in the country, ensuring a free and fair electoral environment and the respect for human rights, are met with an inhumane government security forces response, a skewed electoral legislative framework and statutory instruments designed to curtail the twin freedoms of expression and association. In short, the challenge in Zimbabwe is to reform the system of governance in an environment where the incumbent has successfully enacted laws and acted outside clauses of conventions and protocols it signed in an attempt to ensure it stays in power. The challenge also comes in when one realises that the same government has successfully peddled lies to its neighbours about the crisis