Transfer Of Voters’ Roll From ZEC To RG’s Office Begins

Officials have started transferring voter registration and the management of the voters’ roll from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) back to the Office of the Registrar-General.

This follows President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s assent to the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill in July, which returned responsibility for voter registration to the Civil Registry and established an independent Delimitation Commission.

However, several applications challenging the new Act are currently before the courts, and their outcomes could affect the transition.

Leadership teams from both ZEC and the Civil Registry met in Harare this week to operationalise the handover, bringing together provincial electoral officers, provincial registrars, district electoral officers and district registrars to align operations across all levels.

Speaking at the joint engagement, Registrar-General Henry Machiri said the operational transition began immediately after the legislation was signed into law, with completion targeted for the end of August 2026.

“Our structure runs from the national level down to sub-office level, so this transfer is not limited to head office only,” Machiri said.

“The purpose of bringing our teams together is to get everyone to work as one team.

“It is not just about transferring equipment, but also transferring the mindset of our people so that they understand what they are supposed to do when we take over.”

ZEC chief elections officer Simbarashe Tongayi said the transition covers physical assets, network infrastructure and human capital under a Whole-of-Government approach.

“The transfer involves equipment and infrastructure related to voter registration, including Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits and related network infrastructure,” Tongayi said.

“We are ensuring that not only equipment is transferred, but also the expertise and experience from ZEC. We will have attachments and secondments to ensure there is no gap.”

He added that public-facing exercises like continuous voter registration will proceed as normal alongside joint planning for elections.