From HENRY HIMOONDE  In Johannesburg –
REN-FORM, the company printing the ballot papers for the January 20 presidential election, has so far printed about 3,700,000 ballot papers.
This is out of the total of 5,390,050 ballot papers that the company is expected to print for all the 150 constituencies in the Zambia.
Ren-Form chief operations officer, Albe Naude said although the printing should have been completed today, the entire process would still be completed within the projected time.
Mr Naude attributed the failure to complete the printing of ballot papers today to paper rolls that were not properly placed on the reels thereby causing challenges on the printing speed.
Despite the challenge faced, the ballot papers will be ready for transportation to Zambia by the end of next week as planned.
“We experienced a problem after we found a defect with paper that was not properly placed on the reel which delayed the work because of paper jam, but we have slowed down the speed and everything is on track,” he explained.
The process would not be delayed because other processes such as stitching, guillotining, packaging and palliating were moving at a slower rate than printing.
Mr. Naude also assured different political parties and civil society observing the printing of ballot papers that the problem was a minor one and would not affect the quality of ballot papers.
Some observers had earlier expressed concern that the slowing down of the printing speed would delay the process.
National Restoration Party (NAREP) national secretary Jevan Kamanga commended Ren-Form for the work it has done so far.
Mr Kamanga said although political parties initially had concerns about the process, the company has so far done a commendable job.
“I just want to encourage the company for the good job that has been done so far. Yes we had concerns as political parties but I think so far the printer has done a very good job,” he said.
A check at the palliating section revealed that ballot papers for about 30 constituencies had been packed and were ready for dispatching.
According to the company’s work plan, all the ballot papers will be ready for dispatching by Wednesday next week.–ZANIS