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Paidamoyo Muzulu
ZANU PF’s doublespeak was exposed at its annual conference in Bulawayo last week when it passed a resolution ordering a crackdown on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, My Space, among others.
The resolution is contrary to the party central committee’s recommendation proposing the increased usage of new media for Zanu PF to reach its membership in the Generation 40 campaign.
In the report tabled by President Robert Mugabe during the conference, the party’s science and technology department said: “If platforms for disseminating information about the party and its policies are not in sync with modern trends, the party may not strike a chord with the majority of the electorate who are under 40 years of age. Rallies and gatherings as a source for disseminating information are now very limited and limiting the scope and geographic spread.”
However, Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs Emmerson Mnangagwa read out the conference resolution to tighten screws on the use of social media, highlighting that the Arab Spring revolutions were driven by new media.
The Arab Spring swept away the long-serving dictatorships of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya through mass uprisings mainly coordinated through Twitter and Facebook.
Mnangagwa said social networks had been used with devastating results in the United Kingdom riots and the ongoing Occupy Wall Street campaigns in the United States and should, therefore, be further controlled if peace was to be guaranteed in the country.
The party’s science and technology department’s observations are in sync with the mobile penetration rate in Zimbabwe where more than seven million people are connected.
Zimbabwe has witnessed an increased usage of data services after Econet, Telecel and NetOne introduced the service enabling people to access the Internet on their mobile phones.
The mobile penetration has been further boosted by zero rate customs duty on imported mobile phones and accessories and the availability of Chinese made cheap low-end market smartphones.
Ironically, Zanu PF youths and technology savvy MPs have opened Twitter and Facebook accounts where they engage with their constituencies. Noticeable among them are Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment minister Saviour Kasukuwere, his brother Tongai Kasukuwere, Tourism minister Walter Mzembi and outspoken MP Edward Chindori-Chininga.
Former Information minister Jonathan Moyo has become a prolific blogger on a number of websites where he espouses Zanu PF policies and denigrates its opponents, particularly MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The central committee report ominously warns that for the party “to remain a political giant and retain competitiveness, Zanu PF has to take ICTs seriously for political mobilisation”.
Zanu PF has maintained a media stranglehold since Independence as evidenced by its decline to license private broadcasters in the past 31 years, enactment of draconian legislation, such as the Public Order and Security Act, Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Interception of Communication and Information Act.
Party deputy national spokesperson Cain Mathema said Zanu PF expected the coalition government to implement its conference resolutions.
“It does not matter we are in a coalition government. The government has to implement the conference resolutions just like any other coalition operates for instance in Israel and the United Kingdom,” Mathema told the Zimbabwe Independent this week.
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