The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is set to splash thousands of dollars for a retreat scheduled to take place in Victoria Falls from January 9 to 15 at a time when priority could have been voter registration awareness campaigns to encourage citizens to register to vote in the forthcoming 2023 elections.
The ZEC jamboree will see some officials stopping over in Harare and Bulawayo before finally arriving in Victoria Falls.
Critics, however, questioned Zec’s retreat which comes at a time when President Emmerson Mnangagwa has proclaimed dates for the crucial by-elections scheduled to be held on March 26 2022.
ZEC has been under fire after it announced that in 2021 it only registered 2971 people around the country.
The Victoria Falls workshop is meant to determine Zec’s preparedness for the upcoming 2023 harmonised elections.
According to a memo gleaned by this publication, the Zec secretariat is set to travel to Victoria Falls to conduct a workshop on the preparedness of the upcoming by-elections, voter registration and delimitation processes.
“ZEC will be conducting a workshop on the preparedness for the by-elections, voter registration and delimitation programmes. The workshop will be held in Victoria Falls at Elephant Hills hotel,” reads the memo.
The secretariat will travel by road while the top brass is scheduled to travel by air.
“Chairperson, Commissioners, CEO, DCEO KMC/ Director ICT and secretary to the Commission will travel by air on 9 January 2022 and return on 16 January 2022,” reads the memo.
“Mt Darwin, Muzarabani, Guruve, Mbire, UMP, Mudzi, Mutoko will travel on the 8th of January 2022 from their stations to Harare and put up there. PEO Manicaland, Mashonaland West, Bulawayo, DEO Chitungwiza, Hwange, Matobo, Bindura,Kwekwe,Hurungwe , UMP, Bulawayo kindly make sure that you travel with the junior national workers committee representative in your respective provinces and districts.
“Manicaland Province to travel to Bulawayo on 8 January 2022 and put up in Bulawayo.
Masvingo, Manicaland South and Matabeleland North will travel 9 January 2022 in the morning to Bulawayo.”
