Church embarks on BVR campaign

ZIMBABWE Council of Churches (ZCC) last week embarked on a doorto-door biometric voter registration (BVR) campaign in Gweru, urging the public to register as voters.

Clerics from different denominations were seen in Mkoba while meeting the people.

In an interview on the sidelines of the door-to-door campaign, ZCC programmes manager, Pastor Tinashe Gumbo said it was the church’s mandate to partake in Government programmes in the national interest.

He said it was important for churches to assist in educational campaigns.

Pastor Gumbo said ZCC, an association of over 25 churches, was accredited to assist ZEC in the campaigns.

“We are an organisation comprising mainly mainline churches that include Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe, Reformed Church in Zimbabwe, Methodist Church in Zimbabwe and United Methodist Church, among others,” he said.

“We are accredited under ZEC to conduct voter education campaigns as part of our duty.”

Pastor Alex Chiduwa of the Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe said they decided to embark on door- to-door campaigns following reports of low turn-out for BVR.

He said ZCC would also take the campaign to rural areas.

“We will also be reaching out to the rural areas as ZCC, encouraging villagers to register under BVR.” he said.

“Most people in rural areas have no access to newspapers and television, which are the main information dissemination tools being used by ZEC at the moment.

“As the church, we work hand-inhand with Government, so we have a duty to conduct such outreach campaigns urging people to register as voters.”

Pastor Chiduwa said they were encouraging church members during services to register as voters.