Minister of Constitutional Afffairs, Eric Matinenga, in a Catch 22?

While MPs are debating the Constitutional Bill to pave the way for the draft charter and elections, VOA reports that the mobile voter registration exercise has been totally hijacked by Zanu (PF).

Despite the government controlling newspapers and radio, the simple message that confirmations by chiefs is no longer required for registration has failed to reach rural registration official - some would say that it has been deliberately been kept out of the newspapers and radio.

The inclusive government's failure to put election observers on the ground by now is a key omission, as the political environment is already deteriorating and the fear is that by the time election observers come, intimidation and election process irregularities will already be so embedded in the system that it will be difficult to detect or retract at that late stage.

And ZANU-PF’s insistence on excluding international observers is also retrogressive, especially considering that the African Union (AU) encourages this prospect, says, Crisis in Zimbabwe coalition in its latest Zimbabwe Transition Barometer, which concludes that citizens, civil society, SADC and the international community at large need to all play their part to save Zimbabwe from a failed transition to democracy.