Voters roll accessible, affordable to all: ZEC
ANY registered voter can walk into the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) offices and inspect the voter’s roll free of charge while for a soft copy of the national roll any individual or organisation can get it for US$200.
However, to guard against the manipulation and abuse of the voters roll the physical copy costs US$187 000, a price that does not affect any Zimbabwean voter directly or indirectly as anyone can access it even from their mobile phones.
Dismissing reports in some media outlets that the Commission has set the price way beyond the reach of the electorate, Zec spokesperson Commissioner Jasper Mangwana said their charges are gazetted in terms of the law and
“Any individual can visit nearest Zec offices and be given the voter’s roll for inspection free of charge, taking notes with his or her pen.
“Individuals using the NetOne and Econet lines can also freely check on their mobile numbers to see if they are registered by simply dialling *265#,” he said.
Commissioner Mangwana said to avoid tempering and duplication of the voters roll, ZEC has created an online portal where one can log in and analyse the roll.
He said the voters roll copy is available in both electronic and hard copy format.
“For hard copy its US$1 per page as it will have security features to avoid tempering and duplication. Some people have been abusing the voter roll by taking critical personal information of voters including their national identity numbers and addresses.
“Some have been duplicating it outside the law. In 2018 a website run in the United Kingdom had a copy of a distorted voters roll. Some have been manipulating the soft copy by editing, deleting or adding names,” he said.
According to the Government Gazette of Statutory 145 of 2022 titled, Electoral (Voter Registration) (Amendment) Regulations, 2022 (No. 1) a hard copy of a monochrome copy of the voters roll shall be US$1 per page.
The US$1 is applicable whether it is the national voters roll, a polling station voters roll, a ward voter roll or a constituency voters roll, whichever one sought. According to the gazette the fees are payable in Zimbabwe local currency at the official market rate.