Some employees from the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) and the Election Resource Center (ERC), recently acquitted of charges of violating the Electoral Act by allegedly attempting to announce poll results during the August 2023 harmonised elections, are suing the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) for illegally seizing their electronic gadgets.
The 35 staff members and volunteers from the two organisations were arrested on election day last year but were acquitted by the courts on May 31, 2024, after the State failed to present substantive evidence to support the charges.
Through their legal representative, Kossam Ncube of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), they are seeking a High Court order for the police and Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe to release their gadgets.
“Some ZESN and ERC Africa employees and volunteers, who the court recently exonerated, have sued the ZRP and Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Hon. Kazembe Kazembe for illegally seizing their electronic gadgets when they arrested them in 2023,” ZLHR stated.
“The ZESN and ERC staff members were arrested on August 23 and charged with contravening the Electoral Act for allegedly purporting to announce the results of the 2023 harmonized polls. They were recently exonerated after prosecutors withdrew the charges against them.”
They added, “The ZESN and ERC employees and volunteers, who are represented by Kossam Ncube of ZLHR, want the High Court to order ZRP Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga and Hon. Kazembe to release their electronic gadgets, which were confiscated on August 23 by some ZRP officers who raided their offices and arrested them.”
ZLHR noted that in response to the request, the ZRP argued that it is unable to release the gadgets due to some undisclosed and pending investigations they are conducting, despite the criminal charges having been withdrawn by the courts.
