Information, Publicity, and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary, Mr Ndabaningi Nick Mangwana has said that the new Protection of Personal Information Bill shall see Political parties prosecuted and penalised for accessing personal mobile phone numbers and using them to canvas for votes from the electorate.
Mangwana said that the electorate complained after receiving text messages on their mobile phones from political parties without them having provided them with their mobile phone numbers. Speaking during the belated Press Freedom Day commemorations in Kwekwe recently, Mangwana said:
The Protection of Personal Information Bill came from section 75 of the constitution which is our rights to privacy.
You know every one of us go to the Registrar General’s Office and you give your information.
You then start receiving text messages from certain political parties and when formulating this bill, people gave an example of the previous elections when people started receiving text messages from certain political parties asking for your vote and you start questioning and asking yourself where they got your information, it makes people uncomfortable because they want their information protected.
Mangwana said that the new bill which is now awaiting approval from the executive seeks to match local practices to international ones.
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