HARARE: Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa has signed into law the Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill, which was passed by the senate in July 2021 and has been awaiting the president to assent his signature to make it law.
The new legislation to be called Data Protection Act (Chapter 11:12) was signed into law on Friday, amid concerns from human rights groups and activists insisting that government was bent on stifling dissent ideas on social media through the enactment of the draconian law.
Among the contentious provisions in the Act, it seeks to provide for data protection with due regard to the Declaration of rights as enshrined in the constitution and to uphold public and national interests.
The act will also further see the creation of the Data Protection Authority which will replace the Postal Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ). The new authority shall be mandated to among other functions, regulate the manner in which personal information held by access providers such as Econet, NetOne and Telecel maybe processed.
Rights activists and defenders have argued the government is violating social media users by snooping on what citizens send and receive on social media platforms particularly on Whatsapp.
The Act with immediate effect will criminalize offences such as the transmission of data messages inciting violence or damage to property, sending threatening data messages, hacking, cyber bullying and posting of sexually explicit content without consent of the data subject.
Further it penalizes the production and dissemination of racist and xenophobic materials, child sexual abuse materials and child pornography. The authority to be established under the new law will also be tasked to with setting rules, giving authorization for and governing whistle-blowing systems in the interest of fairness, lawfulness and transparency.
While initiators of the legislation argue it will create and promote a technology-driven business environment and encourage technology development and the lawful use of Tech gadgets, antagonists view the law in a bad light.
Information Minister Monica Mutsyangwa recently announced the government had set up a cyber team to monitor what people send and receive.
Source: Hourlyhits