While social media has been celebrated as a catalyst to gather and disseminate information around the globe, it appears the revolutionary party has reservations to that effect.
The tone of the party has been loud and clear, with President Robert Mugabe warning his fellow comrades not to attack one another on social media platforms. This has been reiterated by other influential party stalwarts such as spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo and political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere.
Both have, on numerous occasions, ordered members and supporters to take heed of the president’s position regarding the use of social media. Extreme action has been threatened to Those who continue to express their opinions or vent their anger on Facebook, Whatsapp or Twitter have been threatened with extreme action.
Defiant
So terrified are the technophobic stalwarts within Zanu (PF) that the party’s highest decision-making body, the politburo, moved a motion to discipline members who defy Mugabe’s order. Former Information Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo was the first casualty. However, this has been of little significance as party members remain defiant and continue to take their factional wars to Facebook and Twitter.
Zanu (PF) shares a dark past with social media, with the shadowy Facebook character Baba Jukwa being the source of tension. Baba Jukwa’s Facebook page became popular among millions of Zimbabweans during the run-up to the 2013 elections as it leaked sensitive internal information, mainly to do with security and death threats against dissenting party members.
Most of the leaked information was proved to be true by subsequent events – but some did not. In the midst of it all, Zanu (PF) struggled to clamp down on the page to unmask the faces behind it. Moyo, then Information Minister, was first linked to the shadowy character in a report tabled during a politburo meeting by a camp aligned to axed former vice president Joice Mujuru before the December congress, last year.
Whistle-blower
Surprisingly, former state media editor, Edmund Kudzai (who had been appointed by Moyo) then broke a story that claimed to have unmasked Baba Jukwa as two foreign-based Zimbabwean journalists – only for investigating officers to point fingers at the whistle-blower.
Kudzai was then arrested and dragged to court. He was eventually acquitted. Since then, Zanu (PF) has been terrified of social media as the face behind Baba Jukwa remains a mystery. The party had to apply a large amount of cosmetics to hide the scars left by the shadowy character.
This led to the anti-social media stance taken by the party, ironically at a time when some cabinet ministers have active Facebook or Twitter accounts.
Other ministers such as Lazarus Dokora and Saviour Kasukuwere have on numerous occasions used social media to engage the public on policy related issues.
However, top of Zanu (PF)’s worries is the fact that while social media have accorded such a positive and interactive engagement between policy makers and the public, it is the controversial elements that have been of concern.
Factional wars
Recently, social media went into overdrive after Gokwe Nembudziya MP, Justice Mayor Wadyajena, insulted Moyo on Twitter. He called Moyo a “spiteful political crook, charlatan and low life devil incarnate†in what critics cited as factional wars at play.
The youthful politician is perceived to be VP Emmerson Mnangagwa’s sidekick.  Analysts further suggest that the tension is arising from the fact that Moyo has broken ranks with Ngwena – a term used to describe VP Mnangagwa – despite having worked hand-in-glove with him to bring down the Mujuru faction.
Moreover, though Moyo did not respond to Wadyajena he has previously attacked him on Twitter including a series of spiteful tweets said to have been targeted at VP Mnangagwa.
Disciplinary hearing
Threats have been made to drag Moyo to the party’s disciplinary hearing committee over his continued rants on Twitter, but he has remained steadfast.
The revolutionary party, which has thrived on oppression of dissenting views evidenced by having one centre of power, is terrified of social media as it gives disgruntled party members a platform to question ills within the party without being identified.
Moreover, the fact that Zanu (PF) does not have a clue on how to manage, control or clamp down on social media, the same way it has occasionally and previously done on traditional media, rattles them the most.
Hence, the party leadership has resorted to direct threats against its members embroiled in social media wars.
However, other tactful members are making use of shadowy Facebook characters and Twitter accounts to vent their anger without being noticed. Critics have indicated that the proposed Cyber Crimes Bill is a move by government to fish out such irregularities rather than safeguarding the country from cyber-crimes.
Violation of privacy
MISA Zimbabwe director Nhlanhla Ngwenya said the proposed bill was a direct violation of people’s privacy on the internet.
“The bill seeks to give government authority to snoop into peoples’ e-mails and track their activity on social media platforms. Such power vested in the state is a clear violation of people’s privacy on the internet,†said Ngwenya during the recent Internet Governance Conference organised by MISA.
However, internet expert Rueben Gwatidzo said such a bill was necessary as it not only protected the state against terrorism but shielded citizens from cyber bullying and crimes. “You might have reservations here (Zimbabwe) because you have not yet experienced terrorism threats as a country, but if you go to other countries that face such challenges, you will find that it is necessary. And I say this bill is necessary in Zimbabwe as well.
“You are looking at the issue from a linear perspective, bear in mind that it not only serves the state but the citizens as well against cyber bullying and crimes,†said Gwatidzo.
Post published in: News