By Romeo Takundwa
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) has urged citizens to remain vigilant and observe Covid-19 regulations.
This follows reports of a number of political gatherings held despite the national lockdown and surging Covid-19 cases.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa on the 12th of June moved the country to level 4 lockdown. This comes after Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care, Constantino Chiwenga introduced stricter regulations after a spike in Covid-19 cases.
Among other measures, all public gatherings were banned, except funerals which are limited to 30 people.
However in its Covid-19 Long Term Observer’s report for June, ZESN noted a significant number of political activities that took place across the country in violation of stipulated lockdown regulations.
The country’s main political parties ZANU PF and MDC together with Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) engaged in electoral processes and activities during lockdown.
“ZEC resumed some electoral processes that include voter registration and some boundary delimitation-related field work on 1 April 2021. LTO reports showed that while ZEC Provincial and District Offices were open, in general, only a few people were turning up to register to vote. In Bulilima East, ZEC mobile teams moved around in Wards, registering people.
“In Masvingo Urban, both ZANU-PF and the MDC Alliance were reported to be engaged in restructuring exercises at the local level. Political parties were also reported to be holding meetings. ZANU-PF meetings were reported in a number of constituencies, including Nketa; Chipinge Central; Binga North; Mudzi South; and Mutare North while MDC Alliance meetings were reported in Binga North,” read the report.
This past week, ZANU PF acting national political commissar, Patrick Chinamasa called on members of his party to submit their resumes for vacant national assembly and local authority seats as the party gears up for by elections.
The ruling party’s plans are despite the latest Statutory Instrument’s decision to bar any by-elections due to the Covid-19 outbreak.