Great strides on voter registration mobilisation

Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) in partnership with other Civil Society Organisations in Bulawayo invaded the city’s streets to mobilize people to register to vote in the Biometric Voter Registration blitz and the just ended mop up exercise.

Bulawayo Province had been recording poor registration figures compared to other provinces which then prompted organisations to scale up mobilisation efforts and try to reduce the deep rooted voter apathy.

A cocktail of activities such as roadshows, musical shows graced by renowned artists such as Madlela Sikhobokhobo and Clement Magwaza, door to door campaigns, formed part of the massive voter registration mobilisation exercise.

The organization’s Voter Education Brigades spent days educating citizens on the electoral cycle which includes the pre-electoral phase, the election (actual voting) and the post electoral phase.

Hundreds of people were encouraged to exercise their Constitutional right by registering to vote. Dedicated Voter Education Brigades dished out voter education material and encouraged people to register to vote. Thousands of people were also assisted with transport to various Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) registration centres and this saw an increase in the number of people registering to vote each day in most centres across the city. A number of people were turned away for having defaced identity cards, expired passports or short birth certificates and were referred to Trinity Project Trust, an organisation that assists citizens to acquire identity documents.

Informal workers expressed gratitude to BVTA and its partners for helping them understand the importance of participating in electoral processes.

BVTA will continue mobilizing those who were left out in the two exercises to utilize the existing district voter registration offices to register to vote and participate in voters roll inspection exercise.