As the campaign trail gets warmer, President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa has resorted to sending citizens text messages to highlight his achievements in search for votes.
“Hupfumi hweZimbabwe hunobva mumigwagwa yakanaka, kuwanda kwamagetsi, kuwanikwa kwemvura zvichishandiswa navanhu mudzimba nokuma industries. Naizvozvo ngatirambeyi tichishanda pamwe chete nehurumende mukuvandudza budiriro. Nyika inovakwa, nokutongwa uye nokunamatirwa nevene vayo. Ndini wenyu, President ED Mnangagwa,” reads his message.
Few months ago, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) came under fire for allegedly leaking voters’ mobile numbers to the ruling ZANU PF party, which it used to solicit for votes using short message service (SMS).
Electoral watchdogs questioned how ZANU PF accessed phone numbers of registered voters after the ruling party started broadcasting President Mnangagwa’s campaign messages ahead of the 2023 polls.
The unsolicited text messages which were being sent at the time specifically stated the constituency one would cast their votes at.
ZEC deputy chairperson Rodney Simukai Kiwa denied claims that the electoral body had availed a voters roll with phone numbers of voters to ZANU PF.
“That’s not true. We are not aware,” Kiwa said.
But electoral watchdogs demanded an explanation from ZEC on how Zanu PF accessed voters’ mobile phone numbers.
“While political parties can canvas for votes through various channels, the underlying concerns around unsolicited text messages from political parties is where they got the voters’ information from,” Election Resource Centre legal and advocacy officer Takunda Tsunga said.
“If there has been involvement of the electoral commission in providing citizens information, then this goes to the fundamentals of free and fair elections, whereby one party is advantaged over others. ZEC must clarify.”
Data analysts Team Pachedu also called for legal action against ZEC for allegedly leaking the roll with voters’ phone numbers to ZANU PF.
“ZEC has illegally leaked the new voters roll with phone numbers to ZANU PF. Voters are now receiving unsolicited Zanu PF messages including those in new constituencies.
“The Data Protection Act and multiple laws have been violated. We demand an explanation! ZEC must be sued for violating the Data Protection Act by sharing phone records with ZANU PF. Econet and NetOne must also be sued for illegally facilitating unsolicited bulk SMSs for Zanu PF.
ZEC and ZANU PF must not be allowed to break our laws wantonly,” said Team pachedu.
Zwnews
