Messages From Zimbabwe

A Zimbabwean sanusi (Ndebele fortune-teller) who preferred not to be identified for fear of reprisals by security agents told Radio Netherlands Worldwide that his ancestors have warned him that Zimbabwe will slide back into chaos. Tensions will rise between the country’s two ethnic groups, the Ndebele and Shona and blood will be spilt.

“I see leadership vacuum in this country when President Robert Mugabe dies. ZANU-PF leaders will fight each other to replace him and Morgan Tsvangirai will not rule Zimbabwe,” said the sanusi.

He says he sees a new leader emerging from the ranks of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) faction led by Tsvangirai. The new leader, says the fortune teller, will have to deal with serious problems that will arise from Matabeleland province whose leaders are advocating for autonomy or devolution of power.

“I also see a big man dying in South Africa but I won’t say his name. There is trouble coming for people in Central and West Africa. I see many people dying there,” adds the sanusi.

The Bulawayo-based fortune teller is the only one left in the city after the death of Scotsman Bill MacLeod who predicted the genocide in Central Africa in the late 80s. MacLeod predicted the emergence of a political party that would kick Mugabe out of power by the end of the century.

That party turned out to be the MDC which came close to defeating Mugabe in 2000. It was said that Mugabe lost the election in 2000 to MDC and again in 2008 to Tsvangirai.

The sanusi’s fear of being identified comes after he was arrested in 1979 by the Rhodesian government at the time. In that year, he predicted that two civilian aircrafts would be brought down by members of the guerrillas. He was accused of working with them.

(Source)

ZANU PF has admitted it embarked on a nationwide exercise to coach people on how to contribute in the constitutional making outreach programmes.

The party’s Legal Affairs department conducted a series of workshops to ensure its position on the new constitution sailed through so that it could “achieve an outright win in elections for a post-GPA (Global Political Agreement) government”, documents possessed by Radio VOP indicate.

According to the party’s central committee report to the party’s conference in Mutare between 15 and 18 December 2010, the ZANU PF legal guru Emmerson Mnangagwa said in his departmental report that the countrywide meetings were intended to ensure the ideals and values of the party were captured in the new supreme law of the land.

“The department held several workshops to devise a strategic plan for the constitution making process and to have a party position on each of the 17 themes among other issues. The series of workshops were attended by participants comprising lawyers, university lecturers, senior officers, members of parliament, provincial members, members from the party’s research team and pastors among others,” said Mnangagwa.

“The workshops were aimed at devising an implementable people-centred strategic plan to ensure that the values, ideals and founding principles of the party were permanently imprinted into the supreme law of the country.

“To that end the main objectives of the workshop were to evolve strategies to counter the neo-liberal threats that western sponsored political parties posed to the ideals and tenets of ZANU PF.”

It has also been revealed that the workshops were meant to articulate the main principles of the Kariba Draft constitution, devise multi-pronged media strategy to reach the general populace and to come up with coordinated campaign strategies targeting all organs of the party.

The revelations come at the back of threats by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) not to recognise a draft constitution currently on the cards whose process is alleged to be flawed and not reflective of the people’s views.

President Mugabe also said in his foreword to the central committee report that 80 percent of the views gathered during the parliamentary Constitution Select Committee (COPAC) outreach exercise reflected a ZANU PF position.

“The conclusion of the COPAC outreach programme has sent a loud and clear message to the MDC and its merchants of confusion among our detractors who all along were doubtful of our party’s capacity to ably speak with and for the people of this country,” said the President.

“Now, there’s nobody who does not know that more than 80 percent of the views expressed and gathered during the outreach programme echoed and affirmed our ZANU PF views and positions on the content of the proposed new constitution for our country. What that has demonstrated is that, as the centre of governance, our party has formidable intellectual capacity for governing and running the country,” Mugabe boasted.

The constitution making process is currently in doubt as COPAC is grappling to raise about US$6 million to complete the drafting phase and probably come up with a document that will go to a referendum.

The constitution has been viewed by rival political parties as the basis for free and fair elections through addressing necessary electoral reforms, but the ZANU PF gathering in Mutare recommended elections to take place next year.

President Mugabe has in the past said polls will go ahead with or without a new constitution a move that has been criticised by the civic society saying the environment was not yet conducive and could result in bloodshed.

(Source)

Treason charges against Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai arising from secret US documents made public by WikiLeaks will not stand the legal test but will be used to persecute President Robert Mugabe’s longtime foe, lawyers have warned.

Zimbabwe’s Attorney General Johannes Tomana at the weekend announced that a commission would be appointed to investigate the alleged “treasonous collusion” between officials from Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Western governments.

Hardliners from Mr Mugabe’s ZANU PF party have been calling for the prosecution of Mr Tsvangirai following revelations in the WikiLeaks website that he privately urged Western governments to maintain sanctions against the country.

ZANU PF at its conference two weeks ago also called on the inclusive government to come up with a law that would make it treasonous for anyone to call for sanctions against the country.

However, leading human rights lawyer Ms Beatrice Mtetwa said it would be problematic to prove that Mr Tsvangirai committed treason in a court of law.

“From a legal perspective it would be folly,” Ms Mtetwa told a British newspaper.

“When it comes to witnesses, are they going to call back the former US ambassadors?

“The cables are based on opinion, not fact. There are hosts of legal problems.

“But I am not going to say it’s unlikely because the AG has been known to chase rainbows against us. He was put in the position for that particular reason.”

(Source)

Last year, early on Christmas Eve morning, representatives from the U.S., United Kingdom, Netherlands, and the European Union arrived for a meeting with Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Appointed prime minister earlier that year as part of a power-sharing agreement after the fraud- and violence-ridden 2008 presidential election, Tsvangirai and his political party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), are considered Zimbabwe’s greatest hopes for unseating the country’s long-time de facto dictator Robert Mugabe and bringing democratic reforms to the country.

The topic of the meeting was the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by a collection of western countries, including the U.S. and E.U. Tsvangirai told the western officials that, while there had been some progress in the last year, Mugabe and his supporters were dragging their feet on delivering political reforms. To overcome this, he said that the sanctions on Zimbabwe “must be kept in place” to induce Mugabe into giving up some political power. The prime minister openly admitted the incongruity between his private support for the sanctions and his public statements in opposition. If his political adversaries knew Tsvangirai secretly supported the sanctions, deeply unpopular with Zimbabweans, they would have a powerful weapon to attack and discredit the democratic reformer.

Later that day, the U.S. embassy in Zimbabwe dutifully reported the details of the meeting to Washington in a confidential U.S. State Department diplomatic cable. And slightly less than one year later, WikiLeaks released it to the world.

The reaction in Zimbabwe was swift. Zimbabwe’s Mugabe-appointed attorney general announced he was investigating the Prime Minister on treason charges based exclusively on the contents of the leaked cable. While it’s unlikely Tsvangirai could be convicted on the contents of the cable alone, the political damage has already been done. The cable provides Mugabe the opportunity to portray Tsvangirai as an agent of foreign governments working against the people of Zimbabwe. Furthermore, it could provide Mugabe with the pretense to abandon the coalition government that allowed Tsvangirai to become prime minister in 2009.

It’s difficult to see this as anything but a major setback for democracy in Zimbabwe. Even if Tsvangirai is not charged with treason, the opponents to democratic reforms have won a significant victory. First, popular support for Tsvangirai and the MDC will suffer due to Mugabe’s inevitable smear campaign, including the attorney general’s “investigation.” Second, the Prime Minister might be forced to take positions in opposition to the international community to avoid accusation of being a foreign corroborator. Third, Zimbabwe’s fragile coalition government could collapse completely. Whatever happens, democratic reforms in Zimbabwe are far less likely now than before the leak.

To their supporters, WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange are heroes of the democratic cause. Assange himself has claimed that his organization promotes democracy by strengthening the media. But in Zimbabwe, Assange’s pursuit of this noble goal has provided a tyrant with the ammunition to wound, and perhaps kill, any chance for multiparty democracy. Earlier this month, Assange claimed that “not a single person, as far as anyone is aware, has been harmed” by Wikileaks’ practices. This is no longer true, if it ever was.

Any damage to democratic reforms from WikiLeaks likely comes not from malice but naivety. Assange is probably not best described, as Vice President Joe Biden recently put it, a “high-tech terrorist.” Rather, he, his organization, and their activist supporters believe that they can promote democracy by making an enemy of secrecy itself. What we’re seeing in Zimbabwe, however, is that those methods won’t necessarily be without significant collateral damage.

(Source)

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and leader of the Movement Democratic Change (MDC) says he is ready for elections next year but not war.

He said in his Christmas message to Zimbabweans: “We won the Presidential, parliamentary and local government elections of 2008 and we are not afraid. The holder of the heavyweight title can never be more afraid than the challenger; the one itching to inflict revenge after being humiliated in the first round. And we won the first round. So we are ready for an election and not a war.

“We are only ready for a free and fair election, a peaceful election where violence, rigging, intimidation and a biased public media have no space; where our soldiers, our police, our central intelligence officers and our war veterans remain impartial actors that respect the Constitution of Zimbabwe. A free election where losers hand over power and winners begin urgently to transact the business of the people and to set in motion policies that will guarantee a prosperous future for us and our children.

“So we will only participate in a free, fair and violence-free election. But we will not participate in a war. We are simple defenceless citizens of this country fighting for change through peaceful and democratic means. So we will not participate in a blood-soaked event masquerading as an election.

“On 16 December 2010, our national council took a position that the outstanding electoral business is the unfinished Presidential election of 2008. There was no contestation on the outcome of the Parliamentary and local government elections. This means Zimbabweans should be given a chance to vote for a President of their choice in the next election. We have been forced to walk the road of violence and we are not prepared to walk it forever more.

“I, like every other Zimbabwean, have personally experienced this violence and I understand the pain of brutality and indignity. There have been disturbing and treasonous statements by a parasitic minority in ZANU PF that they will not allow an election to decide the future leaders of this country. The people of Zimbabwe, with the active assistance of SADC, must ensure that the people’s will prevails if we are to entrench a new culture of democracy in our country.

“I am aware that more needs to be done to realise our full potential in bringing hospitals and schools to their former glory and in ensuring that our silent factories start working again. But we have made our positive change in this government amid renewed tension which is threatening our collective march from a dark past of uncertainty to a future of hope and progress.”

“I have my own frustrations about many things in this government. Chief among my frustrations is the failure to implement the Global Political Agreement, the resurgence of violence in the country and President Robert

Mugabe’s unilateral and unconstitutional acts which have blighted the dawn of possible progress.

“I am frustrated because these things have stood between us and the great things we could have achieved as a coalition government. I am frustrated because we have taken Zimbabweans for a ride and betrayed the trust bestowed upon us by you, the people of Zimbabwe as well as SADC and the African Union as the guarantors of the Global Political Agreement.

“I am frustrated because we cannot implement the 24 issues we have agreed upon for the simple reason that President Mugabe has chosen to run away from his signature and treats fellow Principals with utter disdain and contempt.

“I am frustrated because the noble-constitution-making process has failed to stand the test of legitimacy after Zimbabweans were disallowed from freely expressing their views. However, we must continue with this process of crafting a new charter for ourselves while awaiting the making of a truly people-driven Constitution in a post-transitional environment.

“It is a shame that 30 years after independence, we still use a Constitution given to us as an order of the Queen at Lancaster House, albeit a Constitution mutilated 19 times. And we still have the have the temerity to call ourselves a sovereign nation while at the same time subverting a noble process of crafting our own, home-grown Constitution.

“I am frustrated because those who lost the election have chosen to mistake our goodwill and benevolence for a weakness. They have deluded themselves into thinking that they invited us. But we derive comfort in that while they are soaked with the blood of innocent Zimbabweans, we remain drenched in the legitimacy bestowed upon us in a free and fair election.

“We are the true repository of the people’s aspirations. But our present frustrations must not blind us to the nightmare of the past and the prospect of a better future.

“We are now on the home stretch – the last mile. As we go on this last mile, we remain undaunted by the prospect of an election, as this is the only route through which a legitimate government can begin to transact the business of the people and bring about real change.

“This month, we all celebrate the birth of Christ and look positively to the year ahead, well aware of the value we have brought into government and the role we have played in stopping the bleeding and making sure that Zimbabweans have every reason to hope again,” he said. “We are not there yet and I have no doubt about the huge task that lies ahead in returning the country to normalcy and in laying the foundation for a great future for our children.”

He said among the successes of MDC were the ability to add value to the government, pulling the nation from the brink of collapse to a new potential of hope and averted an inevitable plunge into the abyss to set the country back on the rails; on a new path of stability, development and growth.

“We are the people’s conscience in this government and every day, we are mitigating the excesses of entitlement and corruption and keeping in check a sulking minority unused to working in the interest of the people. We have shown what a determined people can do, even in the face of open ZANU PF provocation.”

“We have weathered and survived dark and sinister plots to undermine the collective government work programme and the real change agenda. We have remained resolute, in the full knowledge that we are the true people’s representatives because of the clear mandate given to us in a legitimate election.”

“As I take stock of the past year and look at the priorities of 2011, I am humbled by some notable achievements but at the same time aware of the great strides we would have made were it not for the needless tension in this government,” noted Tsvangirai.

He said Zimbabwe’s inflation has been tamed and the country is poised for a growth of 8,1 percent after having spent the past two years concentrating on stabilising the economy. There is food on the shelves, schools have opened and hospitals have begun functioning again.

He said a one-stop shop that will enable prospective investors to have their papers processed under one roof in less than 48 hours had been opened.

Tsvangirai said he was unhappy with the remuneration for civil servants considering their patriotism and their great service to the country.

He also said a false impression had been created that the MDC and its leadership were fighting the national security institutions.

“We have nothing against our soldiers, our police and our CIO officers as long as they stick to their Constitutional mandate of protecting the people of Zimbabwe. But we have a problem when the same institutions are used for partisan interest, to intimidate and mete out violence against innocent and defenceless citizens.

“So we need a roadmap to a free and fair election, with clear benchmarks and time-bound milestones that will ensure the people’s views will be respected.”

(Source)

The committee drafting Zimbabwe’s new constitution says it expects a referendum on the draft in September next year, casting doubts on the prospects of an early election.

Robert Mugabe has been calling for an election soon after the February 2011 second anniversary of the unity government, which he formed with his arch rival and now Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The 86 year-old leader says he is not happy in the inclusive government and was last week endorsed by his ZANU PF party to run for another term next year.

But on Wednesday President Mugabe appeared to be climbing down from his hardline position when he told ZANU PF supporters that the polls will only be held after referendum.

Mugabe has said elections are expected some time next year – would only be held once the constitutional referendum has been concluded.

Drafting a new charter for the country was one of the major reforms agreed by the coalition partners but the exercise has been delayed by squabbles between the political parties and the lack of funding.

And, frustrated by the delays Mugabe, had previously stated that the country would hold elections whether or not the exercise was concluded.

However, addressing thousands of supporters in Gutu where he was visiting his uncle Kasirai Masanganise who is Chief Gutu and brother to his late mother Bona Mugabe, the President said the referendum would be come first.

“There is going to be a draft constitution which will be put to a referendum; after that we will then have general elections,” Mugabe said, speaking in Shona.

Mugabe insisted that his party’s views should make up most of the final draft claiming ZANU PF had dominated the outreach programme which was aimed at gathering public contributions.

“We must make sure that when the draft constitution is put together ZANU PF’s views are dominant because the party dominated the outreach programme,” he said.

The ZANU PF leader said new elections were needed to replace the coalition government which he said was only a temporary measure and again slated his rivals in the coalition government.

“Even in Government they have no policy as compared to us in ZANU-PF who came up with policies in education, health and even indigenisation of the economy which is now expanding to cover mines and factories,” Mugabe said.

(Source)

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights have called on President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to ensure freedom and fairness reigns during the forthcoming elections in 2011.

The call follows Mugabe’s quest for the elections after saying the union that exists between his ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would not work and must end. The group fears the bickering that exists between the government of national unity ruling parties would replicate ugly 2008 elections violence.

The two parties signed an agreement to work together after losing supporters and officials in bloody fights.

A report from the lawyers’ non-governmental organisation argued the country could slip back into instability if elections were not fair.

About 200 people, many from the MDC, were killed in 2008 elections, and the lawyers say conditions on the ground have not improved since.

African leaders forced the creation of the coalition government in February 2009 after rejecting the results of a presidential election runoff boycotted by Tsvangirai.

(Source)

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to this press conference which comes after day-long deliberations by the national executive committee and the national council of the MDC.

Let me say at the outset that the MDC is a people-centred party and the people are always at the core of our business and deliberations.

We are the true repository of the people’s aspirations and we have a duty to make a public announcement when we take far-reaching decisions in the interest of the people of Zimbabwe.

We have remained resolute, in the full knowledge that we are the true people’s representatives because of the clear mandate given to us in a legitimate election.

Today’s meeting of the national council is the last meeting of the year; a tumultuous year in which we have experienced both progress and frustrations in our quest to bring about real change to the people of Zimbabwe.

It is a year in which evidence abounds that our participation in government has added value and improved the lives of the people.

But it is also a year in which we have recorded frustrations as a result of stagnation in the resolution of the outstanding issues of the GPA and President Robert Mugabe’s unilateral and unconstitutional acts.

These frustrations have slowed the pace of democratic reforms, which are the core business of the inclusive government if we are to prepare conditions conductive for a free and fair election as spelt out in the GPA.

However, these frustrations have not dampened our spirits, but have instead spurred us to continue with our collective journey of hope towards a new Zimbabwe and a new beginning.

The MDC National Council met today and among other things, the Council debated the following;

• The state of the State and the general living conditions of the people of Zimbabwe,

• The state of the Party,

• The issue of the country’s resources including the issues of diamonds and empowerment,

• The question of violence, the rule of law and security of the person, and

• The question of elections and the country’s state of preparedness.

Having so debated the above issues, Council resolved as follows;

1. THE STATE OF THE PARTY

a. Council noted the provisions of Article 5.2.2 of the Party’s Constitution with regards to the holding of a Congress and therefore directs that the Party Congress shall be held by the 30th of May 2011.

b. Council further waives strict compliance with the time limits provided in the Constitution.

2. THE CONSTITUTION-MAKING PROCESS

a. Council notes the problems of legitimacy, violence and infringement and assault of the constitution-making process.

b. The party further notes the derailment of the peoples’ will in this process.

c. Be that as it may, Council directs that the current constitution making process must be concluded and a referendum must be held.

3. THE GLOBAL POLITICAL AGREEMENT

a. Council notes the existence of the following outstanding issues;

• The swearing-in of Roy Bennett,

• The issue of the RBZ Governor and Attorney General,

• Provincial Governors,

• Review and reallocation of ministerial mandates,

• The unilateral alternation of ministerial mandates, and

b. Pursuant to the aborted Extra-Ordinary Meeting of the SADC Organ Troika of the 20th of November 2010, Council calls on SADC to immediately reconvene the aborted meeting to discuss the following

• The outstanding issues,

• The roadmap to elections, and

• Toxic issues including the issue of violence, deployment, of security agents in the countryside and a corrosive media.

c. Council expresses its regret at the failure to execute the 24 agreed issues and now calls on the Principals of the parties to take measures to implement and execute the agreed positions as reflected in the Negotiators report dated the 3rd of April 2010 and more importantly, to enforce and uphold the Implementation Matrix as agreed by the Principals on the 8th of June 2010.

4. ELECTIONS AND ELECTORAL PROCESSES

a. Council notes and restates the position that an election in Zimbabwe should be held to deal with the question of illegitimacy associated with the farcical Presidential run-off election of June 2008.

b. For the avoidance of doubt, Council resolves that the next election should be solely for the disputed Presidential election of 2008 with a harmonised election to be held in 2013 as prescribed in the Constitution.

c. Further, Council restates that ZANU PF nor its President do not have the right of unilaterally calling for the aforesaid Presidential election and that Article 23.1.b of the GPA and the 8th Schedule of the Constitution which requires agreement, should be respected.

d. Further, Council notes that the SADC Roadmap on elections dealing with

• The creation of adequate conditions for a free and fair elections,

• Guarantees against violence and security of the person,

• Proper monitoring and policing of the election including the question of SADC presence six months before and six months after the election, and

• Guarantees with respect to the honouring of the peoples’ will, and urge that the same be put in place before the aforesaid elections.

5. CONDITIONS OF THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE

• Council notes the suffering of the Zimbabwean people and the attempts of the Inclusive Government to mitigate the aforesaid suffering.

• However, Council notes the leakages, corruption, opaqueness and lack of accountability associated particularly with minerals and extractive industries in general.

• Chiadzwa

i. Council therefore applauds and supports the Government decision that all alluvial diamonds should be owned and mined by the State, and

ii. Urges the immediate crafting of the Diamond Act that will legalise the above issue and create the National Sovereign Fund.

d. Civil Service Audit

i. Council notes the existence of thousands of ghost workers in government who are affecting government capacity to remunerate the genuine civil servant.

ii. Council therefore urges the immediate publication and execution of the long awaited public service audit.

6. VIOLENCE AND INTIMIDATION

• Council condemns in the strongest language all acts of violence targeted against MDC members by rogue elements within the State,

• Further, Council notes the deployment of serving and retired security personnel in the countryside as a machination of inculcating a culture of fear amongst the rural people,

• Council therefore calls on the withdrawal of all deployed security personnel in the countryside.

• Council calls on the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration to speed up the process of national healing to abate any forms of political violence.

• Council calls on the International Criminal Court to name and prosecute all perpetrators of post-election violence in Kenya.

• Further, Council calls on the Attorney General and the Judiciary to prosecute all perpetrators of violence.

• Furthermore, Council calls on the South African Government to release the South African Judges Report into electoral violence of 2002 and the South African Generals’ Report of the 2008 electoral violence.

7. RESOLUTION ON IVORY COAST

• Council applauds the people of Ivory Coast for voting peacefully.

• Council notes the defiance and lack of respect of democracy and the will of the people by losing candidate Laurent Gbagbo in failing to relinquish power tantamount to a military coup.

• Council applauds ECOWAS and the AU in their efforts to finding sustainable peaceful solutions in Ivory Coast.

• Further, Council calls on Mr Laurent Gbagbo to respect the will of the people, the election results and concede state power to Mr Alassane Quattara and his political party to allow for stability and growth in the West African country.

8. RESOLUTION ON WIKILEAKS

• Council notes attempts to divide the party and cause division in the Party by ZANU PF and state agencies.

• Council also notes the continuation of this agenda through various channels including diplomatic leaks now known as WikiLeaks.

• Council therefore condemns the aforesaid attempts to divide us and indeed the reports in the aforesaid WikiLeaks.

• Council restates the strength of the party and reaffirms that the party cannot be divided or de-branded by the loony actions of a dying ZANU PF empire.

I thank you.

(Source)

ZANU PF MP for Marondera West, Retired Brigadier Ambrose Mutinhiri, last week sent a chill down the spines of MDC supporters who were forced to attend saying he was ready to kill people who continued to oppose the reign of President Robert Mugabe and his party.

Mutinhiri told villagers who had been forced to attend the meeting at Landasi Shopping Centre, where MDC-T supporters had been forced to surrender their membership cards, that he was good at killing and was ready to go to war.

His statement follows that of the feared Minister of Defence Emerson Mnagagwa who told people in Kwekwe his home town that he was taught to kill.

“We were forced to attend the meeting and at that meeting Mutinhiri told us that those who supported Tsvangirai were living in the past and that it is time now when ZANU PF takes over. He said that he fought in the liberation struggle and fighting was in his body,” said a former MDC -T senior member who has since resigned.

Scores of villagers who attended the meeting have already surrendered their MDC membership cards after the chilling statement from Mutinhiri a former cabinet minister. MDC-T parliamentary hopeful Patrick Kunaka this week surrendered to ZANU PF and pledged his vehicle to be used by ZANU PF during mobilisation of resources for the impending congress, scheduled for next week. (He is the source of the story and is now with ZANU PF.)

“Many people have started buying ZANU PF cards in order to protect themselves. They had to do that after the threats from Mutinhiri or leave the constituency,” said MDC-T Chairman for Marondera West, Eddington Magwenzi.

(Source)

Zimbabwe government said Wednesday it had started updating the controversial voters’ roll ahead of a general election expected in the first half of next year.

The exercise, campaigned for by opposition parties, is mainly meant to strike off the names of dead people from the register.

Opposition parties often accused President Robert Mugabe’s party of rigging polls by using the votes of dead people.

”The exercise involves deployment of teams to visit chiefs, headmen, village heads, farms, resettlements and other community leaders to collect information of those who died within their localities,” registrar-general Tobaiwa Mudede said.

”People are always complaining that the voters’ roll has names of deceased people; that’s why we introduced such an exercise to clean up the voters’ roll, but this exercise is not linked with the forthcoming elections which are expected to be held mid next year,”
he added.

President Mugabe has brushed off opposition misgivings and said the country should hold elections by June next year, when a two-year coalition deal expires.

The country is currently ruled by a coalition, including the opposition which is campaigning against the poll proposal, saying conditions
were not ripe for elections.

They are insisting on a new constitution, among other things, to be in place first before fresh elections can be held.

But an ongoing constitution-making exercise has been bogged down by infighting and under-funding, and is not expected to be ready before the poll.

(Source)