The Sunday News
Clinton Moyo, Sunday News Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will adjust the ongoing Biometric Voter Registration process to accommodate people living with disabilities, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Responding to questions in Parliament on BVR education last week, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Retired Major-General Happyton Bonyongwe said Zec will compile Braille documents to accommodate visually impaired members of society.
“I will now turn to Braille. Zec officers are now in the process of compiling documents on Braille. It is still in the pipeline and may be concluded soon,” said Rtd Maj-Gen Bonyongwe.
He said the BVR machines were made to cater for people with different disabilities.
“We also have some people who are living with disability such as physically impairment or those who are dumb. We have these machines which were manufactured in such a way that they can even register these people who are living with disability,” said the Minister.
“Some people may not have the limbs or whatever, the machine will enable them to move to the next stage. This machine is sophisticated that it will capture that data which makes it possible to identify a voter so that when they come to the voters’ registration, they will be included.”
He said the Government recognises all the official languages and was aiming to have BVR communicated in all of them.
Rtd Maj-Gen Bonyongwe added that material has been produced in eight languages while more were on the cards to meet the demands of everyone.
“When we talk of the Constitution, we are saying any official communication should include all the 16 languages in Zimbabwe including Sign language.
At the moment, we have managed to work on eight languages and the Braille part was done working in conjunction with institutions of higher learning.
It is our wish that these people be able to access voter education so that they are able to read for themselves instead of getting interpreters or people reading for them,” said Rtd Maj-Gen Bonyongwe.
People living with the disabilities have expressed concern on the ongoing BVR exercise saying it is discriminatory as most of the information that has been disseminated has left them out. — @clintonmoyo2
