Zimbabwe Election Results Drama: ZRP Reveals More Details After The Arrest Of 41 ZESN, ERC, Team Pachedu Staff And Office Raid On Election Day


The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has explained why it arrested 41 employees from ZESN, ERC, and Team Pachedu and raided their offices on election day.


As some people voted at night on 23 August 2023, the ZRP stormed the offices of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), Election Resource Centre (ERC), and Team Pachedu at 9 PM, arresting 41 people in the process, after a tip-off.


The offices are located in Belgravia, Milton Park, and The Grange while other arrests were made at Holiday Inn Hotel in Harare. During the night raid on election day, police confiscated 93 cell phones, 38 laptops, two smartwatches, two modems, a WIFI router, an external hard drive, a small Nokia phone (kambudzi) a printer, and other phone and laptop accessories.


ZRP Sheds More Light On Arrest Of ZESN And ERC Personnel On Election Day


In a statement posted on Twitter, ZRP said:

“The equipment was being unlawfully used to tabulate election voting statistics and results from polling stations throughout the country. These figures were being supplied by some observers and political party agents.


“The coordinators of the information were stationed at Holiday Inn, Harare, and were in the process of feeding information to a location in The Grange, Harare, where the Presidential Election results were to be announced using the VPN System through Apollo concept. The  results were to be announced on 24th of August 2023 [yesterday] as promised by Citizens Coalition for Change leader Nelson Chamisa.”

As of 25 August at 5 AM, Chamisa had not announced the results of the Presidential Election.


ZESN And ERC React After Police Raid And Arrests

ZESN and ERC, which are currently observing the 2023 Zimbabwe Elections, responded to the arrests and raids in a joint statement shared on Twitter:


“ERC and ZESN jointly set up two data centres for observation of the Harmonised Elections, one at Holiday Inn and another one in The Grange in Harare. ERC and ZESN are independent, non-partisan organisations accredited to observe the election.


“ERC and ZESN jointly set up two data centres for observation of the Harmonised Elections, one at Holiday Inn and another one in The Grange in Harare. ERC and ZESN are independent, non-partisan organisations accredited to observe the election.


“ERC and ZESN analyse publicly available information and direct observation from accredited observers as recognised in the Zimbabwe electoral code. Therefore, the organisations’ operations are well within the law.”


Other rights organisations slammed the raids, saying they were meant to stop the groups from conducting parallel tabulation of election results, which is legal.


Team Pachedu, mentioned as a suspect by the ZRP, said none of their members were arrested. Yesterday, the viral organisation appealed to opposition agents at all polling stations to send them V11 forms so they can electronically tabulate parallel results.


Team Pachedu also condemned the arrest of ZESN and ERC staff members:

“We strongly castigate the raiding of ZESN and ERC, the confiscation of computers and phones, and the subsequent arrest of 39 staff members in an effort to stop their Parallel Vote Tabulation.”


Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) executive director Roselyn Hanzi complained over the treatment of the arrested personnel:


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