The lack of voter education by the ZEC has been criticized by MMPZ, which pointed out that there was little publication of information for voters on the complicated electoral process. MMPZ noted that all 53 voter education advertisements that the organization had monitored on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation in the week commencing February 10 were placed by private bodies.133 The SADC Principles and Guidelines call for voter education programs to be carried out.134 The lack of basic voter education activities by the ZEC is of even greater concern given that the ZEC has been given almost exclusive control over voter education. Under the September 2007 constitutional amendments, the ZEC has been given the powers to monitor voter education provided by other organizations for correctness and impartiality,135 and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act provides that no person other than the commission, or a political party or a person appointed by the commission, shall provide voter education unless the person meets stringent requirements.136 While the commission has an express duty to monitor voter education, in theory it may direct that voter education activity be modified or cease only when the commission considers content false or misleading.137 However, as ZESN chairperson Noel Kututwa informed Human Rights Watch, the ZEC has not limited its role to preventing “misleading” education. He explained that on February 23, the ZEC banned his organization from carrying out voter education because under the new laws the ZEC had a monopoly over voter education. According to ZESN, ZESN adverts deemed to be direct voter education were scrapped from the electronic and print media following a letter from the ZEC asserting that the law only allowed the conducting of voter education by institutions authorized to do so by the ZEC. This was despite the fact that according to Kututwa, ZESN has carried out voter education during past elections in 2005 without actually applying for permission from ZEC. 133 MMPZ, “Weekly Media Update,” February 15, 2008. 134 SADC Principles and Guidelines, section 2.1.8. 135 Constitution of Zimbabwe, 1979, section 15 A, as amended by clause 11 of Constitional Amendment Act No. 18, 2007. 136 Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act, 2004, Clause 15 (1). Under clause 16 the commission alone is permitted to receive foreign contributions for voter education and may allocate it to political parties or other persons providing voter education as it chooses. 137 Ibid., clause 15 (1). 43 Human Rights Watch March 2008