HARARE – Zimbabwe’s largest mobile phone operator Econet Wireless has filed an urgent court application challenging a July 17 search warrant obtained by police which it says is unlawful and violates the privacy rights of the company and its 11.4 million subscribers.

The warrant requires Econet to, within seven days, hand over a list of its mobile money transactions and subscribers because authorities suspect it of involvement in money laundering.

Econet on Monday challenged the warrant which it said had been issued based on “ridiculous facts”. The company also claimed there was an agenda to destroy it, and benefit its rivals.

Econet CEO Douglas Mboweni, in an affidavit filed at the High Court on Monday, said the police warrant mentioned Econet “merchants, billers and agents”, yet they only had “subscribers and customers” for their mobile phone services.

EcoCash, which appeared to be the target of the warrant but is not mentioned in the warrant, Mboweni said, is not a subsidiary of Econet but was in fact separated and is now owned by Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe together with Steward Bank.

Mboweni said police appeared to have lifted “bald and incorrect” allegations made by government spokesman Ndavaningi Mangwana, who made the error of mistaking Econet for EcoCash. Merchants, billers and agents are categories relevant to EcoCash, Mboweni said, whereas Econet’s business is airtime and mobile data services.

“Econet’s network does not have the capacity to credit money to its customers. Through its network, Econet can only credit airtime to its customers. The airtime… cannot be converted into any sum of money as alleged by the police. The function of crediting money to a customer applies to EcoCash…,” Mboweni argued.

Mboweni said the investigating officer Mkhululi Nyoni, cited as the second respondent, “assumed that the allegations made against mobile money transfer systems apply with equal force when it comes to mobile telecommunications systems and based on that flawed assumption proceeded to see the warrant of search and seizure.”

Mboweni said their subscribers and customers were verifiable and auditable, and such information is held by the regulator, POTRAZ. As of July 1, 2010, he said Econet had 11,405,557 subscribers.

Mboweni maintains that the magistrate who issued the warrant did not apply his mind as the information supplied by the police to obtain the warrant “does not point to the commission of the alleged crime in any way.”

Nyoni testified before a magistrate that Econet carried out money laundering activities by “crediting huge sums of money which was distributed to their runners through their trust accounts.” Police claim these EcoCash balances were traded for United States dollars which were then “externalised” – a word used to describe the act of illegally moving money abroad.

Mboweni said the magistrate, in issuing the warrant, failed to apply his mind because the police – instead of limiting their interest to the said trust accounts and “runners” – were now seeking access to Econet’s full database.

Mboweni said the warrant also appeared to target an airtime credit service that Econet provides. He said the service had been in operation since 2011, and no valid challenge had been made against its operation and it therefore could not be unlawful.

“A warrant of search and seizure which is too wide is susceptible to being set aside by this court. The warrant of search and seizure in the present case was issued based on speculative reasons. It has nothing to do with the proper administration and attainment of justice and constitutes an invasion of the rights to privacy,” Mboweni charged.

The government, he said, was lashing out at Econet because of its failing domestic currency.

“This invasion of privacy on such a massive scale appears to be in response to the free fall of the Zimbabwe dollar against the United States dollar that has been happening since the bond notes were delinked from the U.S. dollar in 2019,” Mboweni said.

The Econet boss said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government had identified Econet and Old Mutual as economic saboteurs, and Zanu PF official Christopher Mutsvangwa threatened them with “action similar to the coup that happened in 2017.”

“The reference to the coup betrays an agenda to destroy Econet and remove it from its market leadership position and to the benefit of another operator,” Mboweni said, adding that Mutsvangwa was part of a consortium that applied for a mobile phone licence in 1997 when Econet got theirs but was unsuccessful.

Mboweni asked the High Court to protect Econet and its subscribers from an “unlawful interference with rights to privacy and rights to dignity.”

“There can be no doubt that in the absence of a system of limits which curb state power by protecting substantive rights like the right to privacy and the right to dignity, individuals and society will suffer at the hands of the state and its officials,” Mboweni said.

Econet says its database includes personal information like ID numbers, addresses and phone numbers of individuals. Law enforcement agents can access information on individual subscribers after obtaining a warrant, Mboweni said, but “a balance must be struck between enforcing the law and protecting constitutionally enshrined rights.”

“What the warrant does is to criminalise the whole nation and invade the right to privacy and dignity of the whole nation without any valid reason… When such abuse happens, the public would normally blame Econet and this has happened before,” Mboweni said, citing a court case brought by an Econet subscriber who got a message from Zanu PF asking him to vote for Mnangagwa in the 2018 presidential elections.

Owen Mafa was aggrieved at the messages because he had not given Zanu PF private information so that he can be contacted, Mboweni said.

He added: “It is therefore clear that a disclosure of the entire database of Econet’s subscribers can have far reaching consequences that affect the rights of privacy of Econet’s subscribers… It is inconceivable that all of Econet’s subscribers are involved in conduct suspected to be criminal and our law does not allow the kind of fishing expedition that the warrant seeks to authorise.”

Econet wants the warrant set aside pending a determination of the validity of the warrant.