Lack of information, inaccessible venues to blame for low voter registration among PWDs

PEOPLE with disabilities (PWDs) in Bulawayo have blamed failure to share information within the fraternity as the major contributor to a low voter registration turnout ahead of the March 26 by-elections and the 2023 harmonised polls.

According to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission genderdisaggregated disability voter population statistics as of January 8, 2022, from the period January-December 2021, only four PWDs had registered to vote, consisting of two females and two males.

This has been a low turn out compared to the period around 2018 which saw over 2000 PWDs registering to vote, while between September and December 2017, over 28 000 PWDs registered to vote.

In total, there are 30 381 PWDs registered to vote between 2017 and January 8, 2022.

Robert Malunda, the director for Gateway to Elation, an organisation that works with the visually-impaired, says the challenge with voter registration among PWDs was access to information.

Malunda says information may be out there, but it won’t be in an accessible format like braille and audio or pictures for sign language users.

He adds that the other challenge is of the accessibility of registration venues, which he says may not be suitable for people who use wheelchairs as most do not have ramps.

In addition, Tariro Gurure, a PWD, attributes the small number of registered voters to the cost of reaching Zec offices.

She says Zec offices are too far and because PWDs are vulnerable in Zimbabwe, most of them do not have a source of income, but for them to go and register they need to commute twice.

This is worsened by the fact that most of these people have caregivers, so if they are going to pay for their wheelchair, caregiver and themselves, they need about US$6, whereas an ablebodied person needs US$2.

Gurure adds that Zec Bulawayo provincial offices are not easily accessible to people using wheelchairs.

Suppose people in Famona decide to go the office close to them, the place is not accessible as there are no ramps.

Inside, there is no basic sign language or someone who can interpret what the officer there will be saying, and for someone who doesn’t see, there is no braille for their biometric, so it’s a struggle.

People want to go, but there are a lot of things that deter them.