Well, that was quick. It seems whilst protests were taking place in the CBD of Harare earlier today, there was also some protest online. The website of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was hacked and picture acknowledging the protests today was placed front and centre where the Commission used to host their own content. The message read:
The people of Zimbabwe Will Never Forget August 1 2018
This is the image of ZECs site at the time of the hack:
Unfortunately, we are not sure when the site was hacked but it seems ZEC could not regain control as they have now suspended the website and it’s now showing a different message entirely:
One of the developers at the Techzim team believes that the website might have actually been suspended by the hosting provider as a security measure:
It could be that the hosting provider suspended their account because they (the host) believe that the ZEC website is indeed hacked or compromised, so for safety they suspend ZECs account.
It is also not clear who is actually responsible for the hack as there does not seem to be anyone actually claiming responsibility for the hack. On twitter some have taken the hack to be equal to manipulation;
Registered voters are 5.6 mil yet a total of 8.1 mil votes have been counted and annonced by ZEC. Only 75% of registered voters voted. Ridiculous rigging by junta & their website is gone. What witchcraft is this @Wamagaisa @DavidColtart @EdmundKudzayi @nelsonchamisa @ProfJNMoyo pic.twitter.com/FDsEnQGOiP
— Tino Dhehwa Mabwe🇿🇼 (@tinomabwe) August 1, 2018
Interesting times…
Zec must say the truth
l don’t think the website was hacked but it’s their strategy to blame the opposition for it. The hosting company should also know where the hacking is coming from
Of course it would be hacked. If Chiredzi has 23 000 registered voters where did the 35 000 ghosts that voted for the murderers come from?
Where did the ghost voters come back from with a 75% turnout. When you have been in power for so long who wants the truth to be announced.
Who developed and hosted the website?
Africom. Don’t know when they started developing websites? I know it can happen to anybody but doubt these guys had the experience to defend the site.
Spot on! they lack the experience and the know how….