ERC Director, Tawanda Chimhini, was last Friday arrested on allegations of conducting voter education.
He was charged for contravening Section 40 (C)and Section 2 of the Electoral Act for allegedly conducting voter education exercises without authority from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
His arrest followed that of 19 of his staff members two weeks ago in Harare on similar charges.
“We are currently in discussion with the commission to ascertain what exactly the issue is with us since ZEC has been part of our campaign from the onset.
“But we believe that is something which can be amicably resolved .We have held meetings with the ZEC Chairperson (Rita Makarau) and I am sure when we go back to the court the issue will be addressed,”
Chimhini told TheZimbabwean in an exclusive interview on Monday. He insisted they were not conducting voter education but encouraging first time voters to register to vote.
“This campaign was not a voter education campaign. It was an encouragement campaign where we were encouraging the youths to go and register so that they vote, not educating them on anything, but unfortunately the police mistook us,” Chimhini said.
Post published in: News