DESPITE the relative calm across the country, voting was characterised by chaos and confusion, as some areas ran out of ballot papers, while some election agents were barred from polling centres.
Staff Reporters
In Gwanda, voting had to be suspended in Wards 3 and 5 after ballot papers for the council candidates ran out.
Initially, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) allowed voting to proceed without the council elections, however, this was soon stopped.
ZEC Matabeleland South chief elections officer Jotham Nyathi said last night they were waiting for a helicopter to be dispatched from Harare with the ballots.
“A helicopter has been dispatched from Harare and it will refuel in Bulawayo before proceeding to Gwanda. We expect it to arrive around 7pm and voting will resume thereafter,” he said.
Nyathi said voters would be compensated for the hours lost, meaning voting in the two wards could close at around 3am.
MDC-T aspiring councillor Thulani Msipha said authorities had allowed voting to continue despite the anomaly.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
“What is disappointing is that about 32 people cast their votes for the legislators and President when our ballot papers ran out. Now we have to guess who those people would have voted for as councillor,” he said.
In Ward 3 voting was suspended at around 3pm after 300 people had cast their votes.
“How can they print 300 ballots for a ward with over 400 people? We will wait for the ballot papers,” Zanu PF aspiring councillor Knowledge Ndlovu said.
Zapu’s aspiring parliamentary candidate for the area, Casper Mthetho Mlilo said the elections will not be fair, no matter the result.
“This is exactly what we have been saying that Zimbabwe is not ready for elections. The shortage of ballot papers is a clear example,” he said.
Chaos marred the election in most of the country as thousands of people were turned away from polling stations for various reasons. The MDC-T has also raised concern that there was a record number of assisted voters.
In Insiza North and South 202 and 450 people were turned away, respectively.
In the two constituencies, 209 people were assisted to vote. In Lupane, 323 people were turned away, while 564 were assisted in voting.
A total of 415 people had been turned away at various polling stations in Gwanda by midday for not being on the voters’ roll, turning at the wrong ward or using defaced identity cards, while others were still regarded as aliens.
Both Matabeleland North and South were blighted by a poor telecommunications network, with polling officers having to rely on police radios for communication with other centres.
In rural areas of Masvingo, there was low voter turnout and the queues had vanished in the afternoon.
There were reports that some traditional leaders coached their subjects and frog-marched them to go and vote.
The situation was very peaceful.
Reports also filtered in of high numbers of assisted voters in Zimuto.
In Chivi North, 285 people had cast their votes by 4pm.
At Makovere School in Chivi, 209 people had voted by 4pm while 16 voters were assisted.
Nobody was turned away.
Meanwhile, police spokesperson Charity Charamba described the voting day as peaceful, saying they hoped this would prevaild in the post-election era.
She said a number of people had been arrested, with one MDC-T official arrested for stealing the voters’ roll in Budiriro.
She dismissed MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti’s claims that there were Zanu PF members who had been seen with fake voter registration certificates.
ZEC chairperson Justice Rita Makarau told journalists that they were investigating a high number of assisted voters especially in rural areas.
Justice Makarau said they were also investigating cases where security officers who did not take part in the special vote found their names crossed out.
She said all those turned away because voter slips did not indicate wards had been advised to go back and vote.
