the Private Voluntary Organisations Act [Chapter 17:05] or registered in the Deeds Registry as a trust and is mandated by its constitution or trust deed to provide voter education. In addition, there are other conditions:
the person must employ individuals who are citizens or permanent residents of Zimbabwe to conduct any voter education;
the person must conduct voter education in accordance with a course or programme of instruction furnished or approved by the Commission;
the voter education is funded solely by local contributions or donations. However, foreign funding may be used but only if channelled through the Commission for onward allocation in accordance with Section 40F;
the voter education materials used by the person and the course or programme of instruction in accordance with which the voter education is conducted are adequate and not misleading or biased in favour of any political party; and
no fee or charge is levied for the provision of voter education or voter education materials. Commission as Gatekeeper in Voter Education Provision • Section 40C (2) provides that any person providing or proposing to provide voter education shall be required by the Commission to provide copies of all materials relevant to the provision of voter education and personal details of all persons who shall provide the service. The sources and manner of funding of its proposed voter education activities must also be provided. . Any contraventions of the prohibitions are punishable by penalties set out under Section 40C (3) – fine, imprisonment or both. Effect on Academic Freedom • An important provision here is paragraph (c) of Section 40C (3) whereby an offence is committed where “with intent to circumvent the restrictions on the provision of voter 18