93 ZEC Employees Set For Transfer To Civil Registry Department

Ninety-three Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) employees involved in voter registration and voters’ roll management are set to be absorbed into the Civil Registry Department as the transfer of electoral functions to the Registrar-General’s Office gathers pace.

The move is intended to retain the employees’ specialised skills and institutional knowledge while ensuring that the restructuring does not result in job losses.

ZEC chief elections officer Simbarashe Tongayi said the commission was considering the integration of its experienced voter-registration personnel into the Registrar-General’s Office, which has assumed responsibility for voter registration following constitutional changes.

Speaking on the sidelines of a workshop in Bulawayo last

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week, Tongayi said ZEC previously had a voter registration and delimitation department staffed by 93 employees.

“You need to understand that when the law was enacted, ZEC used to have a department we called voter registration and delimitation, and it was staffed by 93 members. We no longer have that department now and, as the Registrar-General said, these were very experienced personnel in ICT,” he said.

Tongayi said the Registrar-General’s Office had indicated that it was willing to accommodate the affected employees.

He said retaining the personnel would help preserve technical expertise while ZEC and the Civil Registry Department transfer systems, responsibilities and voter-registration records.

ZEC Rules Out Retrenchments

Tongayi said the restructuring would not lead to retrenchments.

“If you look at it now, the voter registration and delimitation function was decentralised and we have 68 electoral districts, each with one person. Administratively, we think it is very noble and strategic for the Civil Registry to consider taking in our staff,” he said.

He said retaining experienced officials would also provide continuity and stability during the handover.

“What I want to assure the nation is that, at policy level, there is no one who is going to be affected in terms of retrenchment. Everyone is going to be accommodated, everyone is safe. There will be no job losses, that I can assure,” he said.

Voter Registration Shifted Under CAA3

The restructuring follows Constitutional Amendment Act Number 3 of 2023, which transferred responsibility for voter registration from ZEC to the Registrar-General’s Office.

Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet Zvinechimwe Churu, represented at the Bulawayo workshop by Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution permanent secretary Paul Nyoni, said the transfer was required to give effect to the constitutional amendment.

“We should operationalise the constitutional adjustment introduced by Constitutional Amendment No.3 Act of 2023, which, among other things, transferred the voter registration functions from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to the Office of the Registrar-General,” he said.

Nyoni described the change as a constitutional and institutional measure rather than simply an administrative restructuring.

The Registrar-General’s Office already maintains the National Population Register, which records births, deaths, marriages and citizens’ identities.

“The Registrar-General is the custodian of the civil registry, that is, the National Population Register, which records the births, deaths, marriages, and indeed the identity of every citizen,” Nyoni said.

“He is best placed to ensure that the voters’ roll is a seamless and accurate reflection of our citizenry.”

Officials expect integration of the two systems to reduce duplication, improve the accuracy of voter information and assist in keeping the voters’ roll up to date.

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Nyoni said the change should not be viewed as diminishing ZEC’s constitutional responsibilities, but as reallocating functions between state institutions.

Officials Urge Secure Handover

Nyoni called for the transfer to be completed efficiently while protecting the integrity and security of voter-registration data.

“The speed of this transition is important. We operate in an environment where our nation is preparing for electoral processes,” he said.

The handover is being coordinated through engagements between ZEC and Civil Registry officials at national, provincial and district levels.

The planned absorption of the 93 employees would allow the Registrar-General’s Office to retain personnel with direct experience of voter registration and delimitation as it takes over the function.

The transition is therefore expected to involve not only the transfer of systems and records, but also the movement of specialised institutional knowledge from ZEC into the Civil Registry Department.