The police recorded a warned and cautioned statement from ERC director Tawanda Chimhini, who reported to Harare Central police station on Monday after being summoned. According to Chimhini’s lawyer, Tonderai Bhatasara, the police decided to charge the organisation and not the three volunteers who were arrested over the weekend.
“The ERC is being charged with contravening Section 40 (C) (1) (g) of the Electoral Act for allegedly conducting a voter education exercise without authority or permission from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission,” Bhatasara told The Zimbabwean.
Farai Saungweme, Wadzanai Nyaku and Moses Chikura spent 48 hours in custody and have now been turned into State witnesses. The arrest comes shortly after two separate incidences of harassment and intimidation of some X1G Mobile Caravan Campaign officials in Masvingo and Gweru.
“On both occasions, (May 9, 2013) officials from X1G Campaign were briefly detained and questioned by individuals who identified themselves as state security agencies. The Masvingo incident witnessed eleven X1G officials and volunteers being stripped of their branded X1G t-Shirts at Great Zimbabwe University in full view of passers-by as the officials claimed that there was no authority sought to conduct the campaign,” ERC said in a statement.
“The X1G Campaign is a nationwide campaign which was launched publicly in June 2012. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has collaborated with the ERC on many of the programmes involved with this campaign,” it added.
Post published in: News