Other challenges emanated from ZEC's failure to take into account the rainfall season which was disruptive to the voter registration process as a significant number of Registration tents were affected with some centres having to close down on account of the weather during all phases of the registration process. During the last week of phase 2 some areas such as Mberengwa, Zvishavane, Harare, Mutasa, Nyanga, Mutasa and Masvingo experienced heavy rains and had to either, close down, or remain open but served few registrants. In addition to potential rain damage of tents and equipment, the BVR kits in use were solar powered, but given the weather there were numerous reports of delays in charging equipment on account of the weather conditions especially during Phase 3. Examples of registration centres affected include at Mahusvu, Mushambamuto and Masasa A, and Gomba Primary Rengwe Primary school, Mberengwa Primary School, Cheshinga Primary in Mberengwa district, Madzima Business centre ward 10, Makonde district, and Gapara Masosonwa Hall Ward 15 Uzumba district. 6.5 Training and Deployment of Voter Registration Officials Training of BVR Officials As highlighted earlier in this section, the ZEC training process for its BVR teams took place within a short window between receipt of kits and onset of the BVR process. Despite this, ZEC was able to fully deploy BVR officers at all registration centres throughout all the 4 phases. ZESN observers noted that ZEC officers were able to acquit themselves well regarding the necessary registration procedures, following the stipulated registration steps including correctly capturing the biometric features of fingerprints and facial photographs. However, beyond the basic registration process, there were efficiency problems, especially in phase 1 and 2 where the registration process in some instances took much longer than anticipated, with the slow pace discouraging some potential registrants. While there was evidence of sound basic training on the BVR process for ZEC Officers, there was also evidence of gaps in the training process regarding BVR Officials extant (1.) Skills, (2.) knowledge of other stakeholder’s roles in the process, (3.) understanding of the BVR in context, and (4.) citizens with the right to register. These issues negatively impacted on the transparency of the BVR process, and infringed the suffrage rights of certain classes of citizens, as explained below. 1. Variation in Skills as an explanation for variation of data capturing and process timings: At the onset of the BVR process ZEC had stated that its centres were expected to process a minimum of 20 aspiring registrants every hour. However, ZESN observers recorded massive variation in registration times with less than 25% of centres able to meet the ZEC threshold, while the rest varied to servicing between 10 to 20 people an hour, and in the worst cases some serving less than 5 people an hour. ZESN Observers explained this variation regarding BVR officials’ competences, computer literacy and general efficiency, pointing to challenges in recruitment and training of officials. 2. Differentiated understandings of BVR process: Some registration centres were initially turning away potential registrants citing that the aspiring registrants were in the wrong ward despite ZEC's announcement that people could register at any registration centre, not just the one at the polling centre they would vote. 24