" ITREALMS: Econet refuses to ban What’s app in Zimbabwe despite govt tactics

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Friday, July 08, 2016

Econet refuses to ban What’s app in Zimbabwe despite govt tactics



Leading mobile operator in Zimbabwe, Econet Wireless has refused to ban What’s app in the country despite pressures from the government, reports ITRealms.

Econet Chairman, Strive Masiyiwa gave this indication Friday morning when state security agents went to Econet headquarters in Harare, when he refused to become a puppet of President Robert Mugabe. 

ITRealms gathered that ZimEye reported that the government agents wanted Econet to ban WhatsApp platform and secondly, they need names of people who were complaining about Mugabe's dictatorship.   

The report noted that on arrival, the security operatives were referred to Masiyiwa by Econet spokesperson Alfred Nyambira, who in turn spoke to the agents via video call from Denmark.

ZimEye also report that the Econet chairman was precise in his chat with them and was quoted as saying telling them off. 

"... Your Potraz laws cannot be allowed to destroy my business ..." he said, stressing that concerning the issue of phone numbers and details of network users.

“I cannot give you because the international satellite laws state that user privacy is of key importance", said Masiyiwa. 

The unshaken Masiyiwa maintained his stand on the issue of banning WhatsApp.

According him, "My company (Econet Wireless) is going to lose billions of dollars if I agree to ban the social media platform ... so go and arrange with your boss (Mugabe) on how to compensate my money before you talk to me …."

Meanwhile, Econet Wireless has assured Zimbabweans that the security agents from the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) lack the capacity to read people’s messages on What’s App, one of the agents was quoted as saying.

Chuks Egbuna/ZimEye/GEE

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