Story by Panashe Nagoli
THE Civil Registry Department is fully prepared to take over management of Zimbabwe’s voters’ roll following the enactment of Constitutional Amendment Act Number 3, Registrar-General Mr Henry Machiri has said.
The legislation, signed into law by President Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa last Tuesday, transfers responsibility for voter registration, the compilation, custody and maintenance of the voters’ roll from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to the Registrar-General’s Office.
In an interview with ZBC News on Monday, Mr Henry Machiri said the department has the capacity to perform the function effectively.
“We can confidently say that we are very ready and well-capacitated to take on this task. Remember, the Registrar-General used to have this role, and we are just picking up from where we left off and ensuring that we keep a clean and up-to-date voters’ roll,” he said.
Before the adoption of the 2013 Constitution, the Registrar-General managed the voters’ roll before the responsibility was transferred to ZEC.
Mr Machiri said Government has addressed the challenges that led to the transfer and that the Civil Registry will work closely with ZEC during the handover process.
“Government has addressed all the issues that led to the function being taken to ZEC. We will be working with ZEC in the transition to ensure everything is done accordingly. ZEC was already using our database to clean up the voters’ roll because we know who is alive, who is dead, and who has reached the voting age,” he said.
He added that the department plans to build on improvements introduced by ZEC through increased digitisation.
“When ZEC took over, we were using a ward-based voters’ roll, but they upgraded it to a polling station-based roll. We are taking over where they left off and will, with Treasury support, be adding more digitisation initiatives,” he said.
A 2024 Zimbabwe Election Support Network report states that an accurate and up-to-date voters’ roll is fundamental to the credibility and effectiveness of the electoral process.
The Civil Registry Department says it is ready to assume that responsibility under the new legal framework.
