Registrar-General accused of tampering with Budiriro voters’ roll

By Tichaona Sibanda
19 May 2006

With a day to go before the Budiriro by-election, the Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede is yet again at the centre of an election controversy following accusations of stuffing the voters’ roll with names of Zanu (PF) activists.

This forced the Tsvangirai-led MDC to issue a statement this week condemning Zanu PF for once again ‘walking its usual path of electoral theft and chicanery in a desperate attempt to steal the people’s victory in the MDC stronghold of Budiriro.’

Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa told us an MDC technical team dealing with the voters roll uncovered serious preliminary irregularities ahead of the by-election scheduled for Saturday. He said the voters roll, only made available last week Thursday, raises eyebrows in that thousands of people were registered in the constituency even after Operation Murambatsvina, which displaced a lot of people in Budiriro.

Muchemwa explained that in the A-L category of the voters roll, 3 000 names have been removed and cannot be accounted for. Suspiciously, over 3 000 new voters have suddenly transferred to Budiriro. For example, one group of recent arrivals in Budiriro include Cleopas Chinogureyi, Joyce Chinogureyi, Onias Chinogureyi, Steven Chinogureyi and Tsitsi Chinogureyi whose address is given as 1933, 117 Close, Budiriro One. Surprisingly, all these people are of the same age.

Another family - the Jinga family - comprising nine people, has settled at various addresses in Budiriro. This group represents a new category of people with the same surname who have suddenly settled at different addresses in Budiriro.

Jessie Majome, deputy secretary for Legal Affairs said it cannot be a mere coincidence that such people decided to move to Budiriro at once and decided to register their names. Ironically, she added, all the new voters coincidentally reside at addresses of known Zanu PF activists.

‘As MDC, we reiterate our position that this is one of the reasons why elections are not the only way of bringing change and democracy to Zimbabwe. We note that the regime has a half-hearted commitment to the SADC declaration governing the conduct of elections considering the unequal access to the public media. Zanu PF politicians involved in vote-buying activities in Budiriro are being given more coverage compared to the scant, negative coverage given to the MDC,’ Majome said.