Media challenged to assist communities in knowing their electoral boundaries

Babongile Mudau-Gora
Community members from Matabeleland South have challenged the media to play an active role in informing them in the changes in electoral boundaries following the completion of the recent delimitation program by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

They made the pleas during a press club meeting with journalists from the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists and legal experts in Gwanda on Thursday.

Several community members who attended the meeting expressed their concerns on the lack of information on the boundaries.

They said the new set up was likely to affect the Electoral process as well as service delivery.

“We are appealing to the media to assist the communities in knowing their boundaries so that they are not left out in service provision,” said Mr Patriot Ndlovu during the meeting.

Gwanda based lawyer, Mr McAlister Ncube and Mr Nkululeko Khoza, a lecturer at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo explained the legal implications of the delimitation process on the communities in terms of boundaries and service delivery, respectively.

Mr Khoza highlighted that in terms of the legal framework, information needs to be simplified so that the people can understand.

He said it was important for people to be supplied with relevant information regarding the process.

Mr Ncube said process had been carried out as required by the existing laws of the land and that it was critical for people to have knowledge of the legalities around delimitation. #LotshaFM90.1