THE BULAWAYO AGENDA BLOG

Describing their victory as a Tsunami, Biti warned that his party would not accept anything less as they had irrefutable proof that they had won arguably Zimbabwe’s most contested election since independence. 

Mr Lovemore Sekeremayi, from the ZEC Directorate said that his organisation was the only one mandated to release results which he said they were in the process of collating. This has raised anxiety among opposition supporters given that counting started soon after the sealing of ballot boxes just after 7pm yesterday.

Government Information and Publicity Secretary George Charamba waded into the fray claiming in the state controlled press that any premature announcement of victory was tantamount to a coup.

Meanwhile, the national awaits with bated breath for the first confirmed results of the election amidst fears that we might be headed for another stolen election. Preliminary results from a select number of polling stations point to a sweep for Morgan Tsvangirayi in both urban and the rural constituencies which used to be the stronghold of ZANU PF. 

Reports say that celebrations by MDC Tsvangirayi supporters in the town of Redcliff in the Midlands have been suppressed by the police. In Gweru, a heavy police and military presence in the street is noticeable though people are going about their duties.

The ZEC said that the results would be announced as they became available and we will keep you informed as they are announced.

HWANGE

Lusumabini Primary School 1pm - 232 voters have cast their votes so far, there 3 people are still in the queue. So far twenty 24 voters have been turned away : 5 did not appear in the voters roll but checked their names during last voters’ roll inspection, 8 were not registered voters, 3 were aliens, 7 had come to the wrong ward, 1 had a drivers license. So far there have been only 2 assisted voters.
One voter, classified as an alien, lost his temper and disrupted proceedings for a while as he started hurling insults at the ZEC members present. His ID says he is an alien but his name does appear on the present voter’s roll.

VIC FALLS
1:10 pm - The additional ballot papers that had been requested for Ward 3 at 1000hrs are only just arriving at the Airport.  It is said it will take another 20mins for the papers to arrive at the Polling station. Reports coming in say that  MDC and MDC Tsvangirai yesterday queried the number of ballot papers that had been allocated (100) in relation to the number of registered voters (195).

GWANDA
2pm
DDF Polling Station – 114 have voted and 8 turned away for reporting at wrong wards.
 Nyandeni - 210 have voted
Stanmore - 200 have voted and 5 turned away for reporting at wrong wards.
Lumene – 300 have voted and there is a very long queue of people waiting to vote.
Sinkukhwe - 200 have voted and 7 sent away, names could not be found on voters’ roll
Glass block (1) and (2) – 500 voted by mid day.
 
Nketa Mganwini – The voting process has been very slow and polling officers appear to be overwhelmed by the large turnout of voters

Mpopoma Pelandaba - by 1pm 46 had been turned away, 12 aliens, 2 with broken identity cards, and the rest whose names did not appear on voters roll even though they are registered voters.

TSHOLOTSHO

Villagers in Tsholotsho are having difficulties in differentiating between the colours of the ballot papers and have expressed their fears that they might throw their ballot papers into the wrong boxes.

Thabisa ward - approximately 122 people have so far cast their votes. 39 voters have been turned away for the following reasons: wrong ward and no proper identification. Voters in the queues are mainly youths.

HWANGE – Railways polling station - By 11am 27 people in the queue; about 200 people have cast their vote. Four people were been turned away with inadequate identification documents. There were more female than male voters.

Moya project centre - By 1130 am 122 had voted whilst 73 were still in the queue.

Gebhuza Secondary School - 98 people have cast their votes, 90% are men compared to women. Three were turned away because they did not appear in the voters roll, while two were turned away for going to the wrong ward, three have been turned away for bringing drivers licences as identification.

LUPANE
Time: 1140hrs

• By 0930hrs 80 voters had cast their vote at Jotsholo polling station and there was a short queue outside.
  
• By 1000hrs 47 had voted at Menyezwa polling station and short queue outside, elderly people still dominating.
  
• At 1030hrs 50 had voted at Masenyane polling station and there was no queue at the time.
  
• At Ndlovu polling station 110 had voted by 1110hrs +40 were in the queue, 3 were turned away at this station as they were referred to other wards. Two have been assisted by police and polling officers. At this station ZESN observers have been disallowed to wear the blue ZESN T-shirts because they have the same colour as ballot boxes and papers.
  
• Overall,  turnout is still low in relation to the size of the population, geographical area and high interest seemingly cultivated by the harmonized elections in Lupane

GWANDA  
Jahunda - Voting is going on well, but very low turn-out so far. ZANU PF posters have since been removed. About 13 elderly people have voted and quite a significant number of youths are coming.

BEITBRIDGE
 Long queues, but slight confusion as there are too many polling agents and observers in the same polling stations. Turn-out is very high. No information from inside the polling station.

GWERU
Budiriro Mkoba 3 - An old woman in Gweru has been turned away from the polling station after trying to use an expired passport as identification. She begged polling officers to allow her to cast her vote. When quizzed why she did not bring a more recent passport or national ID, she said that her grandchildren hid her ID documents because they felt that she would vote for ZANU PF. Police were sent to look for the old woman’s grandchildren.

BULAWAYO
Newton West (Bulawayo South) - By 10am the queue at Jocks polling station was moving very slowly. There were about 400 voters in the queue and 30 had cast their votes. Six voters have been turned away, the reason being that they brought their drivers licenses as identification. Only National identity cards and passports are accepted as identification for this election.

Magwegwe – At Ntshamathe polling station, so far 35 people have voted. The station opened on time. Two voters so far have been turned away, reason being that they are aliens.

Barham Green (Bulawayo South) - At St Francis about six voters have been turned away so far since their names do not appear on the voters roll.

Sizinda - Community Hall polling station, about 50 people had voted by ten and the process is slow with people getting agitated with the process. The voting queue has over hundred people waiting to vote.                                           

Lobengula - Sikhulile B Polling Station, 98 people have voted, six turned down, while one had a photocopy of an Identity and the other five had driver’s licenses. The process is fairly fast.

Pelandaba – Community Hall, 98 have voted and the queue is quite long. Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, the parliamentary candidate, ZANU PF, for Mpopoma Pelandaba constituency visited the station and was seen speaking to voters in the queue, reminding them that there is no parliamentary vote there since the MDC candidate had passed away. The Parliamentary polls will await a Presidential proclamation for a By-Election.
100 people had voted in 1hr 47mins by 0915hrs. Fifteen were turned away, with 10 of them being aliens who are not allowed to vote through electoral laws. The other five names have disappeared from the voters roll. Three of these voters have confirmed that they checked for their names during the last voters roll inspection and their names were there.

Magwegwe - One ZIMRIGHTS observer was turned away from the station for wearing a ZIMRIGHTS t-shirt, however he was allowed back in after Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Lawyers intervened.

Pumula - Methodist Primary School polling station- There is a low turnout of voters with no queue at all.  About 30 people have been turned away as they are not registered to vote in that ward.

Barham Green, Bulawayo South, There was a long queue outside with about 150 voters, 30 turned away as their names did not appear on the voters roll. These people have confirmed that they checked their names in the last voters’ roll inspection exercise.

Pumula - Community Hall at 10am, 128 votes cast, 5 turned away and 5 assisted for visual impairment.

Lobengula - Sikhulile B - 156 had voted by 10.15am, 13 were turned away , 8 for not being on the voters roll, 3 with drivers licenses, 2 had photocopies of the identity particulars.

GWANDA
The majority of polling stations in Gwanda opened on time at 0700hrs.

Jahunda Hall still had ZANU PF posters on the walls but they were later removed. Some buses with ZANU PF posters are still driving around the town and going beyond the 100m boundaries.

Blanket Mine - Polling Station opened at 0700hrs. Long queues and heavily armed police force on sight. Voters are not free as presence of armed police is intimidating. There are 10 ballot booklets for the presidential polls whereas all other areas have 7. One voter was caught attempting to vote twice.

GWERU
A polling station was set up this morning at the Thornhill Airbase. This is the first time that residents have gone to vote there.

VICTORIA FALLS
Ward 3 - has very long queues, no voters have been turned away yet. No evidence of violence or intimidation.

Ward 4 & 8 - People voted in the morning, and since then there have been no people coming to vote, presumably because they are hotel employees and are at work.

Ward 7 & 9 - There were no people coming in to vote

Ward 11 - has a very long queue approx 100 people voting, ZEC doing a good job – It takes 5 minutes for each person to vote

WARD 3 – The polling station had run out of ballot papers by 1000hrs. The Presiding Officer had said he was expecting papers to be flown in. This ward has mostly white residents and some voters had given up standing in the queue. Ward Three has so far the highest number of voters turning up to vote.

Election Day and the Bulawayo Agenda Command Centre has started receiving updates from throughout the region comprising Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South and the Midlands. We will be sending you these alerts as we receive them from our contacts.

BULAWAYO
The residents of Bulawayo woke up early this morning to go and cast their votes. Reports indicate that all polling stations around Bulawayo opened on time with no major hitches. At 7am opening time, there was an average of 200 - 300 people in some of the queues.

Barham Green and Maphisa - MDC Tsvangirai polling agents for have been denied access into their respective polling stations because ZEC alleges that their names do not appear on their lists. On average, it takes 25 minutes for 8 people to cast their ballots.

Lobengula West - the queue of people fetching water from the local borehole is longer than the one at the polling station. There are more men in election queue than women.
 
Mpopoma /Pelandaba - By 7.45am four voters had been turned away for inadequate identification documents. One ZESN observer also turned away because he was not wearing the ZESN accreditation card.

Pumula – At the Community Hall three voters had been turned away by 8am. One had no identity card and two were not on voters roll.

PLUMTREE

Residents in Plumtree were entertained the whole night by ZANU PF supporters who sang and chanted slogans and toyi-toyied around the town. Election rules say that campaigning should have ended by 12 midnight. Opposition has taken such actions as intimidation. In Gwambwe in Mangwe District voting had not started as there was no voter’s roll.

NKAYI
Opening times for polling stations recorded in Nkayi
• Hlangabeza - opened at 0652hrs - voter turnout +17
• Nkayi  High - opened at 0707hrs - voter turnout +12
• Dimbamiwa - opened at 0635hrs - voter turnout +12
• Nkati Primary - opened at 0630hrs - voter turnout approx +25
• Guqeni Primary - 0645hrs - voter turnout 10

TSHOLOTSHO

Dombo – The polling station opened on time. A cross-section of voters has turned up and police are maintaining peace and calm.

Thabisa - On average it seems it takes two minutes for a person to vote. 85% of those in the cues are female. There is confusion about the four ballot papers. People do not understand how they are supposed to vote and hence they are taking longer in the booths.

HWANGE
There is a peaceful voting process in Hwange so far although 3 have been turned away for not producing voting slips. Each candidate has two polling agents in the polling station though Taongana Langton has no agent present.

GWERU CENTRAL
People started queing up to vote as early as 6am while the Ascot polling stations are said to have started the voting process at 7:12 and 7:30am. Queues are long and the youth militia is present garbed in police officers uniforms.

VICTORIA FALLS
Chinchasa - The polling station opened at 7:12am with just 4 people waiting to vote. Voting process taking a lot of time as one voter took 20mins and the next 7mins to cast their votes.

Nyamagundi - There were complaints that the lighting in the polling station was so bad, officials had to open the windows. Voters say as a result they could not see properly the colours of the ballot papers and who it was they were casting their votes for.

HWANGE
Nsumanu - 67 people have voted so far meaning that it takes approximately two minutes for a person to vote. Two people have been turned away because they had no original identity cards but had photocopies instead. Two observers were turned away because they had come to the wrong wards. 90% of those in the cue are male.
 

Nkai - Today Zanu PF Nkayi senatorial candidate Siyabalandela  threatened villagers who had been duped into believing that they were to be issued with food assistance only to be issued with Zanu PF campaign T-shirts. They were told to wear them or else they would face the consequences. Villagers were said to be terrified after the threats and by implication they are to vote for the ruling party.

Matobo - MDC Tsvangirai candidate for Matobo South is missing after being arrested by the police while campaigning in his constituency. More details still coming in.

Bikita West - 10 MDC Tsvangirayi supporters arrested for playing MDC campaign songs because the police say that the type of music being played was not welcome in the area. They are detained at Bikita Police Station. 

Gweru - Military jets have been flying out of Thornhill the whole day today while soldiers have been patrolling the city in a show of force ahead of the elections tomorrow. People who were interviewed said that they were unmoved by the military presence and will go ahead to vote tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, in Bulawayo’s western suburbs, police patrols have been stepped up ahead of the elections with Anti Riot vehicles now a common sight.

Harare - Opposition parties have been given a raw deal on the last night of campaigning by the public broadcaster Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings. All news bulletins have been dominated by ZANU PF with the opposition parties being featured only in paid commercials. ZBH anchormen have turned in ZANU PF campaign personnel as every news bulletin has been featuring President Mugabe and candidates of the ruling party.

For more details contact Bulawayo Agenda Election Command Centre on 0912570935; 0912516724 or (09) 888211

Also visit our blog at www.bulawayo_agenda.blog.com and website: www.agenda.org.zw

Gorden Moyo is the Executive Director of Bulawayo Agenda

Zimbabweans go to the polls in a few days time on March 29 to determine their political destiny. For the first time presidential, parliamentary and council elections will be held on the same day. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has indicated that a total of 5,5 million people have been registered to vote while a total of seven political parties have their thrown their hats into the ring. The run up to the election has been nothing short of hectic and not entirely free nor fair. However, Bulawayo Agenda has staked its claim in the election process by being actively involved in ensuring that voters have access to their candidates during the campaign period through its Meet the Candidates Series of public meetings.

The Meet the Candidates series of public meetings was initiated and organized by Bulawayo Agenda in conjunction with the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (in the urban areas). This has broken new ground in Zimbabwe’s highly contested political playground. It has been unprecedented in the history of elections in Zimbabwe that an organisation has influenced the expansion of democratic space in the manner and scale that Bulawayo Agenda has done.  A total of 45 public meetings have taken place throughout Matabeleland North, South and the Midlands bringing together nearly 300 candidates from all the political parties contesting in the elections. More than 4000 people gathered at various venues both in the urban and rural areas to listen to candidates canvassing for their votes.

What has been unique about the process is the fact that unlike in party political rallies, the meetings have offered the electorate the opportunity to quiz their candidates at close quarters. Some hard questions were asked, and some candidates felt the heat while others rose to the occasion. It all brought a whole new outlook to candidates being accountable to the electorate. This process did a lot to raise the bar well above candidates merely making promises.  It has led to a situation where candidates had to affirm that they were out to make a difference from the past when elected to office.

Wherever the meetings were conducted, the people and indeed the candidates showed that they appreciated what Bulawayo Agenda had done in organizing the meetings. As for the candidates and their parties, it became apparent that the Meet the Candidate series became an integral part of their campaign strategies, with some candidates whose areas had not been covered begging us to cover their areas.

Bulawayo Agenda has shown that it is capable to rise up to the challenge in its pursuit of the promotion of debate, discussion and dialogue on issues that affect the community. Its belief in the creation of a democratic society in which people and civil rights are observed and respected has been the basis on which the organisation has conducted this ground breaking programme. The influence has been positive, with organisations such as the Combined Harare Residents Association and the Christian Alliance taking the cue by organizing similar meetings in their areas of influence.

What is left is for Zimbabweans is to go and vote in their numbers in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility. However, we should all note that the elections are not an event, but part of a process. And that process will enter a different phase after March 29 where those who would have been elected to office would start implementing their programmes. Bulawayo Agenda will surely be there to ensure that they remain accountable to the people who sent them there. We hope that all elected leaders shall remain faithful and committed to building better and stronger

Bulawayo – Jets from the Airforce of Zimbabwe buzzed Zimbabwe’s second largest city at lunchtime Tuesday in what people here see as crass intimidation ahead of this weekend’s harmonized elections. Shoppers were startled by Chinese made F8 jet fighters in displays normally seen during the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair. This action is being taken as buttressing the defiant stance taken by President Mugabe when addressing a rally in the city’s Stanley Square in Makokoba on Sunday where he vowed that he would never accept an opposition victory after the March 29 vote.

Lupane – Polling officers being trained here have vowed not to move from the command centre here to their stations unless they are paid part of the allowances promised. Insiders say that ZEC officials have been evasive about payment and in some instances have even suggested that polling officers move to their stations from where they are to await their money. The polling officers, most of who are civil servants have said that they have no money for transport and food to last them through to the day after the March 29 election.

Gwanda – At least 3 ZANU PF supporters were killed when the car they were travelling in was involved in an accident on their way to Sitezi. The dead were part of a group of supporters who had been bused to Gwanda for that party’s rally held on Monday at Pelandaba Stadium addressed by President Mugabe

Gweru – ZANU PF militia have been deployed to Lalapansi in the Midlands in a move that is ostensibly said to ‘ensure peace and security.’ It is believed that this militia has been clandestinely deployed in more rural areas ahead of the elections. Meanwhile, information has been received that people in Gokwe and Mashava are being told to vote for ZANU PF as they will be under surveillance through binoculars.

Gwanda - Matabeleland South - Ploughs and scotchcarts were delivered ahead of the rally there today. This is in addition to a fleet of buses ostensibly to eliviate the transport blues faced by the residents of the twon and province. This is said to be the case for all the rallies addressed by Mugabe in the rebelious province so far. However, people on the ground have observed that ZANU PF rallies have attracted less that the opposition indicating that the ruling party faces further disappointment from Matabeleland.

Plumtree - Residents thronged the tennis courts at the border town today to listen to a team from MDC (Mutambara). Party Vice-president Gibson Sibanda was scheduled to address the rally.

Nkayi - Dumiso Dabengwa was poised to address a rally here with Abednigo Bhebhe Nkayi candidate for the MDC (Mutambara). At the time of publication, some 200 people had gathered at the venue.
 
Harare - Reports from the capital city indicate that there is a high presence of both police and the military in the city centre with people being occassionally being stopped and searched. An eyewitness has described the atmosphere as ‘very intimidatiing.’