By Thandiwe Garusa
THE Elections Resource Centre (ERC) has raised data privacy concerns over the proposed amendments to the Constitution and the Electoral Act, which aim to introduce automatic voter registration for 18-year-olds ahead of the 2028 elections.
According to Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, the proposed amendments are intended to address voter registration levels and streamline the registration process by transferring the responsibility for registering voters from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to the Civil Registry Department.
ERC argues that this move will be unconstitutional and raises significant concerns about using personal data, as the data will be acquired without consent.
“According to Section 10 of the Cyber and Data Protection Act, personal information may only be processed where one consents to processing such data.
“The current registration model requires the collection of personal and biometric data upon consent by one presenting themselves at a registration centre for registration.
“The current proposals will seemingly bypass the consent requirement and raise privacy concerns around the use of personal data,” ERC said.
The elections watchdog also stated that the amendments would compromise ZEC’s independence, emphasizing that the government should support collaboration between the electoral commission and the Civil Registry without fully transferring voter registration functions.
“If the government wants to change the practices concerning improving the registration of voters, it has to support collaboration between ZEC and the CRD through practice and/or policy changes that allow the electoral commission to coordinate voter registration with the Civil Registry without taking away the function from the commission.”
ERC further recommended that the government allocate sufficient funding to ZEC for periodic voter registration drives to complement continuous voter registration efforts, especially in areas with low registration rates.
Additionally, the ERC urged ZEC to partner with civil society organizations in voter registration exercises.
“Adequately fund the Electoral Commission to carry out periodic voter registration blitzes that support continuous voter registration targeting areas with low rates of registration.
“The government should call on the commission to partner with civil society organizations in voter registration exercises, noting the successes in the mass registration of voters in 2018, where ERC and others had partnered with the electoral commission.”
The ERC also called on the government to conduct wide-ranging consultations concerning the amendments and to formally announce a roadmap towards the 2028 polls.
This includes timelines for gathering public input on areas of reform and establishing a multi-stakeholder platform to coordinate these efforts.