facilitating the registration of citizens requiring affidavits. However ZESN is of the view that
the same facility should be extended to registration officials as these are the officials that
are permanently stationed at the registration centers across the country.
Pre-filling of Affidavit forms
ZESN has received numerous reports of political leaders such as Members of Parliament,
Ward Councillors and Traditional leaders distributing the pre-signed affidavits especially on
partisan lines. The pre-filling of the affidavits needs to be investigated by ZEC and the
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) given that this is one of the factors that have
fueled incidents of intimidation where registrants are given the pre-filled affidavits and
asked to submit serial numbers on their registration slips. For instance, in Ward 17 and 19
Murehwa South, Rushinga Ward 4, traditional leaders are giving out proof of residence
forms on the condition that once registered, the registrants will submit the serial numbers
of their voter registration slips to the traditional leaders. Similar incidents have been
reported at Iminyela Centre in Mpopoma where councillors were issuing out pre-signed
affidavits and also recording serial numbers.
Challenges with BVR Kits
At the commencement of the Phase 2, ZESN received a significant number of reports of
some registration centres failing to open due to the late arrival of registration officials and
kits. In instances where the BVR kits arrived on time registration was unable to commence
because the kits were not charged. For instance such reports were received from Zvishavane
Ward 8 at Nyaradzai Hall, Mberengwa East Ward 5 and Mberengwa South Ward 27 the kits
were not fully charged resulting in potential registrants being turned away as the kits were
being charged. In Mberengwa East Ward 3 at Chemimwe, people did not register because
the registration officials arrived around 6pm on 29 October 2017. In Nyanga South ward 28,
the BVR kit only registered 2 people on the 31st of October before the kit experienced
challenges with its power source.
Observers denied access to centres
Some accredited ZESN observers were denied access into registration centres by Ward
registration supervisors insisting that they first report at the District offices. Observers were
denied access in Zvishavane at Nyaradzai Hall in ward 8, Lundi Hospital in Ward 10 and
Weleza in Ward 13 as well as at Thekwane High School in Bulilima East. ZESN through its
member organisation the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights engaged ZEC resulting in the
observers being allowed into the centres. ZEC should ensure that its officers facilitate the
observation of electoral processes including voter registration exercise as this is crucial for
promoting transparency and credibility of electoral processes.