Political Parties ‘Bunk’ BVR Mobilization

LOCAL Political parties have failed to mobilize citizens for bio-metric voter registration (BVR), and as such Matabeleland trails other provinces in voter registration statistics, long-time political activist and ex-government employee Dumisani Mpofu has said.

BULAWAYO: LOCAL Political parties have failed to mobilize citizens for bio-metric voter registration (BVR), and as such, Matabeleland trails other provinces in voter registration statistics, long-time political activist and ex-government employee Dumisani Mpofu has said.

Speaking at the Public Policy Research Institute  dialogue meeting on elections in Bulawayo Thursday, Mpofu said BVR was a political process and as such, political parties must take a leading role in mobilizing citizens for voter registration.

“Unlike in Mashonaland political parties in Matabeleland failed to mobilize citizens to participate in the registration process and this led to poor voter registration in the region as compared to Mashonaland,” Mpofu claimed.

He continued: “[Local] political parties have shown a tendency of not participating in the BVR process especially in Matabeleland where MDC dominates the political space. Curiously, politicians from political parties, especially opposition outfits decided not to participate in mobilizing citizens to register during the BVR exercise.” 

Watch Video: Mpofu speaks

Mpofu further claimed that in Mashonaland ZANU PF was able to mobilize people through its farmers and miners who were busing people to go and register to vote, adding that political activists in Matabeleland could have done the same.

‘‘Political parties and political activists in Matabeleland have not been active as we expect them to be and political processes like the BVR can be driven by political parties and NGOs can just play a complementary role in the process,’’ Mpofu charged.

 “Participation of people in Matabeleland has declined badly due to the lack of faith in the political system of the country therefore politicians need to actively participate in mobilizing citizens for the BVR to be a success,” he added.

The BVR "mop up" exercise ended on February 8. According to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission report, Bulawayo had registered 243 136, Matabeleland North 319 549 while Matabeleland South had 239 367. 

Meanwhile, registration continues at district centres. —@The_CBNews 

—Editing by Divine Dube