from MARCUS MUSHONGA in Harare, Zimbabwe
HARARE – CYBERCRIMINALS have hacked into the website of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) in the latest crisis to batter elections held in the country earlier this week.

A day after soldiers killed at least three people in post-election violence in the capital Harare, ZEC confirmed it had to take its website (https://www.zec.org.zw) down after it was hacked into.

“Our website was hacked and we had to take it down minutes after discovering it was compromised,” said Qhubani Moyo, the ZEC spokesperson.

He announced the hacking to media in Harare on Thursday.

“We realised the website was now carrying images that were not those of the commission,” Moyo said of the site that is no longer accessible.

Journalists covering the polls had expressed their frustration at lack of access to the site.

Hacking is the gaining unauthorised access to data, a computer or a computer system.

The Zimbabwean government is at an advanced stage of implementing the Cyber Crime and Security Bill to address such crimes.

Jail sentences of up to ten years have been mentioned.

The country is in suspense after watershed elections which, although were held peaceful, degenerated into violence amid an anxious wait for the outcome of the presidential poll.

Elections were the first to be held without longtime leader, Robert Mugabe, who ruled from independence in 1980 but was forced out of office after a military coup last November.
– CAJ News