Respect voters’ privacy ZEC tells Team Pachedu

Respect voters’ privacy ZEC tells Team Pachedu

Pretty Manyewe

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has warned internet users to desist from encroaching into the privacy of voters, as it is against the laws of the land.

One Twitter gossip collective known as Team Pachedu has been putting up people`s identification numbers, addresses and names on the internet seeking to sow confusion among voters days before the March 26 by-election.

Team Pachedu, the army of trolls which was commissioned by CCC to ‘audit and analyze’ the voter`s roll received a warning from ZEC Commissioner Jasper Mangwana over their recent conduct.

Commissioner Mangwana told attendees in a Twitter space hosted by 263Chat that the right to hold ZEC to account does not equate to the flagrant violations to the right to privacy which are being witnessed.

He said the publishing of addresses is unwittingly putting people at risk.

“ZEC has made a statement distancing itself from the voters roll that was published by Pachedu since it was dubiously attained.

Whatever was acquired from the Commission was not in accordance with customary practices, ZEC cannot take responsibility to that. It is not ZEC’s policy to issue out a voter’s roll with irregularities because there is a standard way of getting it which was not followed. ZEC reiterates that it is not in line with the published voter’s roll,” said Commissioner Mangwana.

ZEC said they have been inundated with requests from members of the public to issue a notice on their safety and privacy.

“Another thing is that the public has been engaging ZEC with concerns on their published addresses on social media. Citizens are questioning ZEC if their right to privacy is not being violated since ZEC is the custodian to their information. ZEC is assuring the public that they are looking into the data protection policy to ensure the safety of the information citizens give out during voter registration,” said Commissioner Mangwana.

The recent Cybersecurity and Data Protection Act and the Constitution protects citizens` right to privacy.