The ruling Zanu-PF has admitted that it sent unsolicited bulk SMS messages urging people to vote for President Emmerson Mnangagwa and for the specific aspiring members of parliament depending on their constituencies. However, Zanu-PF refuted allegations that it had done so using a database obtained from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) or Potraz. The party claimed that it has its own database compiled when people attended the party’s cell-level meetings.
Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs, Paul Mangawana, told Business Times,
We took phone numbers from our supporters or potential supporters when we were updating our cell-registers. We don’t need anyone to give us people’s phone numbers. We don’t need the POTRAZ or ZEC to give us those numbers.
What happens is that in our party every cell has 50 members and every individual gives their details to the cells. When the data came to us, we were told that they were our members. We have no apologies
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More: Business Times