The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) has issued a statement saying that it did not share any subscriber information with the ruling Zanu-PF party. This comes after Zanu-PF sent targetted bulk messages to people urging them to vote for President Emmerson Mnangagwa as well as for specific members of parliament depending on the subscriber’s constituency. In attempting to distance itself from the scandal, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) had suggested that maybe the mobile network operators had sold their databases to third parties. After Zec’s explanations, Econet moved swiftly to refute the allegations saying that it had not and does not sell any subscriber data.
In a statement, Potraz director-general Dr Gift Machengete said,
Please note That POTRAZ did not share any subscriber information with third parties, as it does not keep such data. POTRAZ prohibits operators from sharing subscriber’s information with third parties. The relevant circular that prohibited such a practice is Regulatory Circular Number 2 of 2013, which is available on our website.
More: Tech Zim