HARARE - Zimbabwe's opposition cried foul on Monday after many voters, including some senior politicians, said their names had been removed or misplaced on the voters' roll ahead of national elections.
Zimbabweans head to the polls in what is predicted to be a tense general vote later this year, with the ruling party accused of cracking down on opposition voices.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said a date for the elections - expected to be in August - would be announced this week.
Meanwhile the leading opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), said the voters' roll made available for public inspection by election authorities seemed to be riddled with "errors".
Some voters' names were missing while others had - unknowingly to them - been registered to vote in places other than their ward of residence, it said.
CCC lawmaker David Coltart, a former education minister, said he was among those who could not find their name on the list at his local polling station.
"Whether it is chaos or whether it is deliberately targeting CCC members, we cannot say at the moment, but one can only describe the voters' roll as shambolic," Coltart told AFP.
He later tweeted that, after a day of trying, he found his name registered at a polling station further away from his home.
Hundreds of people reported similar issues, he said.
Witness Dube, a spokesman of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), another opposition party, said they had also been receiving similar complaints.
"The jury is still out... as to whether we are going to have free and credible elections," Dube said.
Election authorities said they would be correcting all mistakes.
"That is precisely the reason we have this voters' roll inspection," Rodney Kiwa, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission deputy chairman told AFP. "We're not perfect."
Mnangagwa, who replaced long-time ruler Robert Mugabe in 2017, faces widespread discontent as he struggles to ease entrenched poverty, end chronic power cuts and economic hardships.
Earlier this year, civic activists voiced fears of irregularities after an analysis of electoral boundaries redrawn ahead of the vote showed some wards to be located in Antarctica.
UN concerned about Zimbabwe's rights situation ahead of elections
A U.N. special rapporteur has voiced concern about the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe, where a number of human rights defenders and opposition activists are facing charges, with some being jailed. The call comes as the country prepares for elections in August and as the nation is waiting for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to announce a date for the polls.
In an interview from her base in Geneva by WhatsApp, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Mary Lawlor says the number of human rights activists facing charges ahead of Zimbabwe’s elections is concerning.
“I am very concerned about ongoing legal proceedings against human rights defenders because they are people who are working peacefully for the rights of others," she said. "It is legitimate, credible work. There should be no criminalization, no arrests, no torture of human rights defenders. That includes freedom of association, freedom of expression and working for those who are marginalized.”
Lawlor says the Zimbabwean government should drop the charges and release those who have been jailed.
Obert Masaraure is the president of the Amalgamated Rural Teacher's Union of Zimbabwe, which fights for rights of educators that work in rural areas. He is facing charges of inciting public violence, obstructing justice, subversion and murder but has been released on bail. He says that despite the charges, he will not budge.
“It’s not proper for Emmerson Mnangagwa to continue persecuting people through prosecution," Masaraure said. "The ongoing lawfare against citizens who are viewed as enemies of Mnangagwa should stop now. Zimbabwe is not Mnangagwa’s tuck-shop. Mnangagwa should learn to respect our fundamental rights as defined in the constitution. All the four charges I face today they violate my basic rights. They violate my freedom of expression: the one on posting on Twitter, they violate my freedom to petition duty bearers. They are ridiculous charges meant to silence us. And we demand an end to this persecution and full observance of the people’s rights as defined in our bill of rights.”
He called for the release of jailed opposition activists such as Job Sikhala and Jacob Ngaruvhume before the general election, a date for which has not yet been set by President Mnangagwa.
In a response for request for an interview from VOA, Nick Mangwana, Zimbabwe’s information ministry secretary, said, “As government we don’t interfere with the criminal justice system.”
Lawlor also wants the elections to be peaceful.
“The vote must be free and fair, and election observers should be allowed to do their work, without any kind of stopping them in any way," said Lawlor. "Also, the election process should be completely transparent from start to finish.”
Zimbabwe’s past elections have been marred by violence and accusations of a lack of transparency.
