Diaspora to petition for Zim vote
The US-based Zimbabwe Diaspora for Democracy Inc. and the South Africa-based Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) is petitioning government against it’s decision to bar expatriate Zimbabweans from voting from their foreign bases in the forthcoming key 2018 vote.
The two organisations, representing the interests of well over 4 million Zimbabweans living abroad, have said they will petition Zimbabwe Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), government, political parties, and war veterans – entities that the Diaspora group said represent the economic and political stakeholders of the nation.
The groups said the Zimbabwean Diaspora vote is crucial due to the economic contribution being made Zimbabweans living abroad.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has reported that the Diaspora contributed $120 million in remittances this year alone.
“It is incumbent upon the stakeholders who are going to receive the petition to take the necessary political and legal steps to address this constitutional violation and ensure the outcome of the upcoming plebiscite will be adjudged free, fair, credible, and inclusive,” the groups said in a statement. DailyNews
