Tinashe Sambiri| The Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) has accused ZEC of playing hide and seek in terms of availing the voters’ roll.

CCC wants ZEC to release the compact voters’ roll before the delimitation exercise.

See CCC Namibia statement:

CCC Namibia demands the prompt release of the compact voters’ roll ahead of the delimitation exercise!

19 August 2022

Citizens in Namibia who subscribe to the vibrant yellow caravan engineered by the diligent and outspoken President Advocate Nelson Chamisa urge change champions to never get over-exhilarated about participating in an election without certain litmus tests being met by the remote-controlled ZEC.

It is quite perturbing that ZEC is refusing to discharge the much-needed voters’ roll which is a public document that must be accessed by the citizens ahead of the delimitation exercise. In line with Section 21 of the Electoral Act, a copy of the voters roll should be made obtainable to those who adjure it upon payment of the prescribed amount. Citizens resident in Namibia are cognizant of the fact that delimitation is set to commence soon but the captured ZEC is still reluctant to deliver the national consolidated voters roll to the grieved citizenry, political parties, and civic society organisations.

Bearing in mind that the delimitation exercise, which involves creating novel electoral frontiers, is anticipated to commence in October and end in December 2022, ZEC must respect the rule of law and constitutionalism. We expect the electoral commission to instantly release the full voters roll on a timely basis to demonstrate their allegiance to the Electoral Act and the supreme law of the motherland. ZEC’s dismal failure to provide the voters roll is a serious violation of the law and this must be resisted with equal measure. The lack of integrity evidenced during recent by-elections compels Namibia district to advocate for citizens to disband the commission for its partisan conduct.

Moreover, change champions in Namibia prioritize the strengthening of ZEC’s independence so that it is free from government oversight in the approval of its regulations, for which the amendment of the Electoral Act is fundamental. We shall soldier on recommending the timely holding of more meetings of the Multi-Party Liason Committees(MPLC) throughout the entire electoral process, as an effective conflict resolution arsenal for political parties. This will surely go a long way in creating a sound forum for reporting non-compliance with the code of conduct for free, fair, and unfettered elections in the motherland.

Furthermore, it does not require any legislative transformation as the Electoral Act foresees, in Section 160B, the formation of the Multi-Party Liason Committees at the local, constituency, and national level at any date on or after the commencing of the period of six months before the end of the five-year term of parliament. We clamour for more effective information-dissemination by the compromised ZEC to disappointed election stakeholders on all steps of election preparations with adequate transparency, making all information of public interest easily accessible forthright.

In a nutshell, citizens in Namibia demand accountability and openness from ZEC considering the discrepancies unearthed during the recent by-elections where most voters could not vote because they were deliberately displaced to give ZANU-PF an upper hand.

Without further ado, Namibia district calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the Nyatsime 16 who include Job Saro Wiwa Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole. Hon Sikhala and others were illegally arrested sometime in June to date and they have been denied bail several times. It is satanic to grant bail to the corrupt and extravagant ZANU-PF member of parliament Mayor Wadyajena and cronies who stole 5 million US$ but deny political prisoners arbitrarily arrested for demanding justice.

FreeJobSaroWiwaSikhala

FreeGodfreySithole

FreeTheNyatsime16

FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners

ZANUPFMUSTGONOW

ReleaseTheVotersRoll

FreeAndFairElections

Citizens Coalition for Change Namibia
Rundu Branch Interim Spokesperson
Robson Ruhanya