4.1. General Access to the Voting Processes ZHRC acknowledges the role played by the ZANU PF leadership particularly, the Office of the Secretary for Administration for accepting its notification to monitor the election process. ZHRC also acknowledges the cooperation it received from the police and local authorities and party leadership in areas such as Harare Metropolitan Province, Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Manicaland Province, Matabeleland North Province and Masvingo Province. However, in some areas ZHRC the ZANU PF administration was uncooperative, they were of the opinion that the Commission’s presence was not required. In provinces such as Matabeleland South, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West, access was almost impossible until the Secretary for Administration, Dr Obert Mpofu was contacted to intervene. For example, in Mashonaland Central, ZHRC was informed by one, Retired Brigadier Shungu, that “there is nothing Human Rights about a Zanu PF internal process….may you please leave this place and we don’t want to see you around…” The same negative response was experienced in Mashonaland East where ZHRC met an Election Official named Cde Kuchekwa and the Party’s Provincial Chairperson, Mr Biggie Matiza who stated that ZHRC was not welcome to the political party’s internal process. Issues of access continued to be a challenge in some provinces as ZHRC did not possess a written commitment for the go-ahead, despite the Secretary for Administration’s consent which allowed ZHRCto undertake its work. Some senior officials at the ZANU PF Provincial and District Head Quarters acted against the Secretary for Administration authorisation as they instructed their provincial and district structures to deny ZHRC teams access. It would appear as if there was lack of sincerity by the Party leadership in agreeing to the ZHRC monitoring role during the primary election process. Thus, it was difficult for ZHRC monitors to access general information such as; the list of polling stations, directions to the centres and information on aspiring candidates. Page 7 of 22