1,000 polling officials are receiving training at Katima Mulilo as part of the preparations for the upcoming Presidential and National Assembly Elections.

The officials, drawn from the region's eight constituencies, are being taken through all the voting processes, including handling, filling, and processing of voter cards and vote counting. 

ECN Electoral Officer for Zambezi Region, Lesley Simwanza, said the training is meant to sharpen the officials' skills.

"What happened was these people went through selection criteria where they applied and they were shortlisted. Now they are going to attend the training, but after the training, they are going to do an assessment; they are going to write a test, so that test is the one that will determine how many people we are going to put in depending on how many people we want."

Simwanza stated that the ECN targets recruiting 1,003 officials for the exercise through a thorough selection process.

He warned members of the public against misinformation, which he said is spread via social media, and against scammers, who he said target applicants with promises of false jobs.

"You find that now there are people who were being called by scammers to come for the training they also want to go in. Then you find people who just want a job, and they are also coming in and claiming that they got the job. That is the dilemma we encountered so far."

The training ends on the 25th of November, and the officers will be deployed to their various polling stations immediately.