Anti-riot squad called to control rowdy police

Anti-riot police were called in to control uniformed forces who attempted to force their way into a polling station at Town House in Harare yesterday evening following day long delays in the distribution of ballot papers.

While voting started on time at most polling stations in Harare, interruptions in the delivery of additional ballot material in the afternoon affected the smooth flow of the process.

The logistical challenges resulted in voters leaving the polling stations before casting their votes. It was, however, at Town House where prospective voters attempted to power their way into the polling station, resulting in anti-riot police being called to contain the situation.

The voters breached a human security barrier manned by the anti-riot reaction team before making their way into the polling station and forming a queue inside.

Although the exact number of voters could not be established by late last night, at least 300 voters had cast their ballots by 9:30pm.

However, by 7pm a number of voters were still milling around outside Highfield High 1 School polling station awaiting their turn to vote. The polling station, which has over 700 registered voters, covered constituencies in Glen View, Glen Norah, Highfield and Budiriro.

Presiding officer Mr Richard Imbayarwo told The Herald that all voters would be cleared before polls closed at midnight. At Kuwadzana Community Hall, voting went on smoothly throughout the day with most of the voters having cast their votes by 7pm.

In Epworth, Mabvuku and Mount Pleasant, polling stations opened at 7am with long queues confined to the later two voting stations. In Epworth, small queues of less than 10 people were observed throughout the day while at other voting centres, hundreds of prospective voters were still jostling to cast their ballots by 9pm.

A ZEC official, who was only identified as Mr Mtetwa, said they had extended voting time to midnight. Voting at Mashonaland Central polling centres started mid morning after ballot papers and other voting materials were delivered late.

In Mt Darwin, voting began at Mt Darwin High School just before 10am. Of the 345 applications that were approved, only 147 were delivered.

Presiding officer Mr Edmore Tambo said voting would continue beyond 7pm as per tradition to compensate for the delay. “We will ensure that everyone votes and the delay will be compensated,” he said.

The situation was the same at Bindura Primary where voting was expected to end at 11pm last night. Over 400 people had cast their votes by the time of going to print.

At Chaminuka Rural District Council in Shamva, only five people had cast their votes by late afternoon while at Tsungubvi Hall in Glendale 127 people had voted by 7pm. Ballots for three others were still to be delivered.

In Masvingo special voting by security forces finally started yesterday at a snail’s pace with a shortage of ballot papers affecting the process at most centres across the province.

At voting centres visited by The Herald in Masvingo since morning, the voting proceeded slowly with most voters being turned away because of a shortage of ballot papers.

At the Masvingo district administrator’s office voting started at 7am but only a few officers had voted by 5pm owing to a shortage of ballot papers.

Voting started late at Mapanzure business centre in Masvingo Central and Rafemoyo business centre in Gutu Central owing to the late delivery of ballot papers.

The exercise only started after ballot papers were delivered just before 9am.

Most police officers who spoke to The Herald said they had been turned away after their ballot papers were not found.

“I have not yet voted up to now though I have been waiting for my chance since morning. When I went to the polling station to cast my ballot I was told that my ballot paper was not there. I am still waiting,’’ said a policeman yesterday evening.

Masvingo ZEC provincial officer Mr Zex Pudurai could not be reached for comment.

It was not clear whether the voting period would be extended since almost all polling centres were not able to conduct any voting on the first day of special voting on Sunday.

Voting continued yesterday in Mashonaland West province with intermittent availability of ballot papers as hundreds of people patiently waited at polling stations to cast their ballot.

By 6.30pm almost a hundred people were still waiting for ballot papers at Cooksey Memorial Hall polling station in Chinhoyi yesterday.

Some police officers had their applications turned down as their names were not on the voters’ roll.

Mashonaland West ZEC provincial elections manager Mr Kenneth Kwaramba gave assurances that everyone who had been cleared to vote would have their chance by end of day yesterday.

“We have everything in place except ballot papers which are still trickling in owing to logistical challenges of a technical nature related to their printing. However, we are positive that everyone who is supposed to vote in this election will vote,” he said.

The first batch of 156 people had cast their vote by yesterday evening at Cooksey Memorial Hall while 131 people did so on Sunday.

A ZEC official said they were now waiting for another batch of names to allow to vote.

“Everything here is going on smoothly and we have been able to clear the batch of people who have their ballot papers. We now wait for another batch of people,” said the official who refused to be named.

By 7pm yesterday a team that had been sent to collect the remaining ballot papers in Harare had not returned.

The situation was the same throughout the province as officials waited for ballot papers which were being printed in Harare.

At Murereka Primary School in Lions Den, police officers could be seen waiting for their names to be called out and in Kariba prospective voters milled around the voting centres.

In Chitungwiza voting started at 7am soon after the opening of the polling station at Seke Teachers College but voting was affected by the slow delivery of the ballot papers.

Some police officers who arrived early in the morning spent the day waiting because they were still waiting for their turn to cast their votes.

Officials at the polling station said by 4pm yesterday more than 300 police officers had cast their votes.

The officials added that they were expecting to close the polling station by midnight.

By 7pm about a 100 people were still waiting to cast their ballots.

“We are expecting to close the polling station by midnight but if there is anyone still waiting to cast his vote we will be forced to extend it because the law provides that if there is anyone in the queue by seven at the normal close of the polling station he needs to be given the chance to cast his vote,” said a ZEC official who declined to be identified.

There was a huge turnout at the four polling centres in the eastern and western constituencies of Beitbridge district.

However there were delays mid afternoon when the polling stations ran out of ballot papers although operations returned to normal by 4pm.

ZEC officials said that all those who had applied for the special votes would be attended to until midnight.

Several police officers were by late last night still queuing outside the main polling station at the district administrator’s office to cast their votes. The Herald