Online Reporter
Freeman Razemba
Senior Reporter
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) senior officials this Wednesday met with Zimpapers premises as the commission seeks to partner with the media group in disseminating information to the public countrywide.
The delegation was led by ZEC chief elections officer Mr Simbarashe Tongayi and was accompanied by the deputy chief elections officer (operations) Mr Thompson Chiwereweshe, director of finance Mr Albert Chibaya and the director of public relations Mr Justin Manyau.
After the meeting, they also toured the country’s largest diversified media house, accompanied by Zimpapers group chief executive officer Mr William Chikoto and senior management.
In an interview, Mr Chiwereweshe said, “We appreciate the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission having a meeting with the Zimpapers team.
“We learnt a lot from this engagement. There are a number of platforms that we can leverage on, and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, especially in the area of voter registration.
“We are looking forward to further engagements so that we can also leverage on; I think there are several platforms that we observed that we can ride on in terms of the work that we do.”
He said one of their co-mandate is through voter education, and there was need to partner with Zimpapers in disseminating information.
In his speech, Mr Chikoto said that, as Zimpapers they were happy to receive the officials and that they discussed various ways of cooperation during the meeting.
“We were quite privileged to receive the chief elections officer of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and his team who came to just explore opportunities to partner with Zimpapers,” he said.
“We were able to explain to them the different platforms that we have here and how we can help ZEC in terms of voter education and any other information that has to be conveyed during the electoral cycle.
“We showed them our digital-first approach that we now have global audiences, so whatever message they have, we can get it to wherever they want to reach, whether it’s radio, television, or newspapers.
“We explained to them that we have a public mandate to provide editorial coverage during elections, be it by-elections that we are at their disposal.”
Mr Chikoto said they are also opportunities for commercial cooperation that they will be exploring and they were looking forward to a fruitful partnership.
