stating that such decisions would have been
taken on the grounds that the actors would have
failed to comply with the law. This comes as the
CCC party has had 62 of its meetings banned
since its formation a year ago. During a media
engagement meeting convened by the Media
Institute of Southern Africa-Harare Chapter,
Assistant Commissioner Nyathi stated that
some parties were not complying with the law
hence their meetings were banned. This is
despite the police having always given Zanu PF
the nod to hold its political meetings, sometimes
at short notice, yet the opposition has not been
treated in a similar fashion, constantly citing the
Maintenance of Peace and Order Act (MOPA).
This also comes after the ZRP descended and
dispersed crowds during a CCC nomination
process in Chikanga Ward 14 on 5 April.
3 CCC activists were also flogged by suspected
Zanu PF supporters in Mutare as soon as they
left the party’s internal meeting. According to
the CCC spokesperson, the attackers are well
known, and the matter was reported to the
police, but no action was taken.
Recommendations
The Zimbabwe Human Rights
Commission urged to engage the
J u d i c i a l S e r v i ce C o m m i s s i o n to
promptly and fully investigate all reports
of human rights violations and noncompliance with court orders by police
that are brought to their attention.
A biased ZEC?
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is
being criticised for allegedly sharing voters’
mobile phone numbers with the Zanu PF party.
“Kwaziwai. Iyi ndiyo WhatsApp nhamba yangu
yeSeke 0719****, ichengetedzei mufoni menyu
nekuzivisa vamwe vagari vemaSeke. Ndichange
ndichikuzivisai paWhatsApp STATUS yangu,
zvirikuitwa nehurumende kuvaka nyika yedu
nemuno maSeke. Ndatenda, ndini wenyu
President ED Mnangagwa” (”Hello. This is my
WhatsApp number for Seke 0719****, save it in
your phone and inform other Seke residents. I
will be informing you on my WhatsApp STATUS,
what the government is doing to build our
country and here in Seke. Thank you, your
President ED Mnangagwa”) read one of the
9
messages citizens have received on their mobile
phones. This is not the first time this has
happened as this happened before the 2018
elections. CSOs continue to question how Zanu
PF obtained these numbers and are concerned
about unsolicited campaign messages being
sent to voters, which even specified their new
constituencies. The sending of unsolicited
political messages to mobile phone users
violates the Cyber and Data Protection Act
which governs the use of personal biometric
data. Takunda Tsunga, a legal and advocacy
officer at the Election Resource Centre, stated
that ZEC needs to explain how Zanu PF
obtained voters’ numbers.
THE ZIMBABWE PEACE PROJECT MONTHLY MONITORING REPORT | APRIL 2023