call upon ZEC to provide stakeholders with disaggregated data on sex and age of registered voters at the
end of each phase.
Power challenges
ZESN observed that due to the cloudy and rainy weather experienced across the country during the last
week of the Phase 2 of the BVR exercise, a number of registration centres had to stop registering voters
because the BVR kits had run out of power. This was observed in areas such as 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. As a result, some centers ended up
closing for hours whilst the kits were being recharged at other registration centres or at shopping centres.
In areas where there is no electricity supply ZEC should put in place alternative power back up options to
ensure that when the solar systems are affected by weather registration does not come to a halt.
Phase 3 set up and commencement
The phase 3 of the BVR process commenced on 16 November
2017 albeit with a number of challenges being reported by ZESN
observers. ZESN observers in Chirumanzu Zibagwe ward 18 and
22 have reported that there is no registration taking place in the
two wards as scheduled under phase 3. ZESN has engaged ZEC
which has confirmed the reports indicating that the two wards
will be covered under phase 4. The reason for the rescheduling
of voter registration in the two wards is due to the fact that
there were not enough kits to cover all the wards hence the
decision to move them to the next phase. ZESN urges ZEC to
ensure that in case of such changes to the schedules
information is timeously and widely shared in the affected areas
to avoid confusion.
ZESN observers reported that some centers either opened late
or did not open at all on 16 November due to a number of
factors such as poor road networks in some remote areas,
heavy rains, and late arrival of registration officials. In addition, the state of vehicles being used by ZEC to
deploy officials is very poor thus leading to breakdowns before they reach their centers. Instances of
registration centres that did not open or opened late include Crushers Inn in Silobela Ward 4, Construction
Houses centre in Ward 6 Norton, Bullet Shopping Centre and Tent near SDA church in Nkulumane Ward 22,
Pumula Shopping Centre in ward 19, Manyame Ward 12 and Mabvuku Red bull community Hall.
Furthermore, at Khalanyoni in Mangwe ward 16, registration was stopped yesterday after registering only
5 people because the kit ran out of power and the laptop malfunctioned.
Recommendations
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