The party of Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is concerned about the “hygiene” and integrity of crucial elections expected later this year amid voter registration and violence issues, the finance minister said Saturday.
“There’s massive challenges with the voter registration exercise that is taking place,” said Tendai Biti, who is also the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary general.
“It’s the ordinary hygiene issue of the election, the integrity of the election, we are talking about,” he added.
General elections expected in July should end a shaky coalition government between Mr Tsvangirai’s MDC and President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party.
Mr Biti said there was need to “vaccinate” the vote against violence as “self evidently in the last few weeks there have been signs, sprouting shoots of violence … potential replication of the 2008 status quo.”
The MDC has since the start of the year recorded over 120 incidents of violation and abuse of individuals, he said.
These and other concerns such as inequitable access to the public media by the MDC, have been raised with the regional bloc Southern African Development Community.
An SADC security organ comprising three presidents met in Pretoria on Saturday to discuss Zimbabwe and South African President Jacob Zuma said the grouping “will take necessary action” on the issues raised by the MDC.
Mr Biti said voter registration is underfunded and inaccessible to many citizens.
NMG
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