Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai says it will take President Robert Mugabe to court following his proclamation of dates for conducting voter registration ahead of the crucial 2018 general elections.
Mwonzora told VOA Studio 7 that as far as they are concerned the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is not yet ready to conduct the voter registration exercise as it has not even trained people who are supposed to undertake the nationwide program.
He said to make matters worse, ZEC has not yet received all the machines for conducting the biometric voter registration exercise and severs for storing the collected data.
Mwonzora added that there are many issues that need to be sorted out before ZEC conducts this exercise. These include the designation of places for the voter registration program, difficulties faced by some Zimbabweans in obtaining identity documents and challenges faced by aliens who want to register to vote in the forthcoming polls.
ZEC chairperson, Rita Makarau, announced recently that voter registration would start next month.
But in his proclamation, President Mugabe said the exercise should start on Thursday and end early next year.
Other respondents to the MDC-T court application are ZEC and Justice Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is also Zimbabwe’s vice president.
Studio 7 was unable to get comment from ZEC and Mnangagwa.
Meanwhile, the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation reports that ZEC has started training people who will be conducting the biometric voter registration exercise in Mashonaland Central Province.
Voter registration in the province starts on Thursday at more than 800 stations.-VOAZIMBABWE
