HARARE, Zimbabwe — Three laptop computers were seized during a break-in early Sunday at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commision (ZEC) offices in Harare, prompting an investigation into a security breach.
Two of the computers were assigned to Chief Elections Officer Utloile Silaigwana, and the third to his secretary, Isabel Mariwowo.
The theft occurred less than a month before general elections, thus it was unclear whether the computers included any important data.
The break-in and theft were discovered just before 9 a.m. on Sunday, when Mariwowo arrived for work and saw that her electrical appliances were switched off.
“While trying to investigate she discovered that the adaptor was missing form her office,” an internal police memo of the incident seen by ZimLive said.
Mariwowo soon discovered that her Dell laptop was missing, and in Silaigwana’s office an HP Pro Book and Mac Book Pro had also been stolen.
“The south facing window for Silaigwana’s office was broken with a stone which was on the floor,” according to the memo.
We have reached out to ZEC and this story will be updated when their response is received.
