POLICE yesterday swooped on some Civic Society Organisations (CSOs), arresting 39 individuals and recovering an assortment of communication gadgets that were supposed to be used to collect poll results and announce them illegally.
Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi
Among those fingered in the scheme to illegally announce poll results are the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) and Election Resource Centre (ERC).
Officials from the two CSOs were behind the scenes clandestinely collecting and tabulating poll results outside their mandate.
Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed that a raid was conducted Wednesday night at Holiday Inn, Harare, Belgravia, Milton Park and at the Grange area with 39 suspects arrested in the process.
Asst Comm Nyathi said several communication gadgets were recovered which include laptops, smartphones, ordinary phones affectionately called Kambudzi and modems.
“These were co-ordinating the alleged release of election results by some civic organisations which are linked to the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Election Resource Centre and others.
“We want to assure the public that investigations are ongoing. We will be releasing a detailed statement in due course,” he said.
Asst Comm Nyathi also appealed to Zimbabweans to remain calm and assured the nation that any form of chaos, which is going to be instigated whether by an individual, civic organisations or political party will be severely dealt with.
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