Top spy to head telecommunications regulator

By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |

The government-controlled Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (POTRAZ) has appointed Gift Kallisto Machengete, a top Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative, as its director general.

POTRAZ regulates the whole telecommunication sector, including registration and operations of service providers, deregistration and monitoring of communications.

The authority scrambled social media platforms at the height of recent citizen protests.

There are growing fears that the troubled Zanu PF government will increasingly snoop into mobile communications as anger with President Robert Mugabe’s establishment spreads ahead of the 2018 general elections.

POTRAZ made the announcement of Machengete’s appointment this week.

It was not clear whether he would leave the payroll of the spook agency where he is director of finance and administration and has no known experience in communication engineering.

The privately owned Zimbabwe Independent cited unnamed sources claiming that Machengete’s appointment was part of a plot to tighten control of cyberspace.

“It’s (POTRAZ confirmation) a statement which confirms that the government wants to control cyberspace and also increase surveillance and monitoring of citizens,” said an unidentified official.

Government is moving fast to introduce legislation to monitor and control cyber communication.

The Interception of Communication Act (ICA) which was adopted in 2007 gives the government significant powers of surveillance over the communications of its citizens.

The Computer Crime and Cyber Crime Bill is likely to be passed into law soon and it will empower government to order legal entities and individuals to reveal sources of information that is suspected to aid cyber crime and remotely install spying tools onto citizen’s communication devices.

The Electronic Transaction and Electronic Commerce Bill would monitor electronic transactions. Nehanda Radio