Young women encouraged to register to vote
YOUNG Women should stand up and register to vote, as they can contest as candidates at the age of 21 either as Members Of Parliament (MPs) or Councillors at their Ward, District Elections Officer for Bulawayo Sithembiso Khuphe has said.
Speaking at a Stakeholders Engagement organised by the Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) and Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) yesterday in Bulawayo, Khuphe said if people do not register to vote they risk losing existing constituencies.
“Projections from current statistics indicate that constituencies within Bulawayo Province such as Magwegwe have 14 000 registered voters while Lobengula has 13 000 registred voters.”
“Out of the 12 Constituencies in Bulawayo, 6 of them are below the minimum of a standard constituency due to low registered voters and this means they risk losing their seats come 2023 elections, Khuphe said.
Khuphe added that ZEC will be disseminating information pertaining to delimitation dates, the electoral cycle as well as plans to carry out voter registration blitz in collaboration with Civil Society.
“As ZEC we would like to commend the Women’s Institute For Leadership Development and Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association for this engagement. Engagement is key and we hope to continue engaging WILD and other key CSOs as we intend to roll out a number of activities.
“This also comes against the background of low voter registration at the just ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) where only 21 people registered to vote. We should strengthen the working relationship between ZEC and CSOs and register more people to vote ahead of the 2023 elections,” Khuphe said.
Speaking at the same event, ZEC Voter Education Coordinator For Bulawayo Metropolitan Province Silas Silaigwana said the province is lagging behind the expected target of 400 000 registered voters.
“Bulawayo is still lagging behind in the voter registration exercise. We now have to look beyond civic voter education but civic participation.
“We need to find different ways of enticing first time voters. Explain to them the importance of voting as this has a huge bearing on resource allocation in the form of Community Development Funds. A lot still needs to be done to empower our people with verified information that enables them to actively participate in electoral processes.” Silagwana said.
WILD Programs Manager Permanent Ngoma said the main objective of the engagement with ZEC was to gain understanding in terms of what they are working on and see how best CSOs can collaborate with the Electoral Commission ahead of the 2023 elections.