By Perpetua Murungweni
MASVINGO – Zimbabwe is experiencing a surge in political and online violence with political parties and their candidates deliberately disseminate disinformation and misinformation in coordinated attempts to manipulate the electorate ahead of August 23, 2023 general elections.
Misinformation is simply incorrect information, while disinformation refers to deliberately sharing information that is known to be false with the intention of deceiving people.
The ruling party Zanu PF has established a fully-fledged cyber fighters and online propaganda wing known as ‘Varakashi’ whilst the main opposition party, the Coalition for Change (CCC) responded by their own ‘Nerorists’ or ‘Mazizi’ which is aimed at giving counter narratives.
However, youths in Zimbabwe, who are the majority consumers of online content are the most vulnerable victims of these social media trolls from the two main political parties.
One youth, Charles Mujani told TellZim News that political parties are peddling false information online and as such some youths are using it to make decisions.
“WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter platforms are dominated by the youths and as such political parties are using these platforms to disseminate propaganda and misleading information ahead of elections. We do not have the skills to plug out disinformation and fake news therefore, we end up making decisions from a misinformed position,” said Mujani.
Linda Masarira, president of Labour Economists and African Democrats (LEAD), during a Tell Zimbabwe organised Election Discussion, said women were heavily affected by disinformation and online violence which then affect their participation in politics. Masarira herself said has been a victim of cyber bullying and online violence as she went through body shaming and serious interrogation of her sexual life among other forms of violence.
“I am a victim of online bullying myself and this is generally the trend where women who want to participate in politics are targeted online. Men in politics resort to violence and abuse of women when they see that they cannot win against them. Women are the majority and I want to encourage fellow women to vote for women or at least candidates they really know that they will improve their living standards,” said Masarira.
She attributed the continuous significant decline in the number of women vying for parliamentary seats to various forms of violence, including online violence. Masarira said the current statistics of women vying for parliamentary seats in August 23, 2023 elections are very telling in terms of the negative impact of political violence and cyber bullying where all forms of violence are used to attack women who want to contest for positions.
“It’s not easy being a female politician in Zimbabwe. I was denied chance to contest for presidency simply because I wanted to make payment in local currency and the Zimbabwe Elections Commission (ZEC) declined the payment. I went to court but my case was thrown away. The environment is not friendly for women therefore, I want to encourage women to vote for fellow women or at least candidates that they know will push for pro women policies,” said Masarira.
United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA) National Engagement and Mobilising Secretary Rebbecca Ndlovu said various stereotypes have been used to undermine women and youths capability to be active in politics and many-a-time strong women are often presented as having loose morals.
“We are concerned about the increasing political violence against women and youths ahead of elections. We have so far witnessed an increase in fake news and online violence targeted on women and young people. Men have shifted from discussing real issues to attacking the persons therefore, it is now extremely difficult to debate issues online without being attacked,” she said.
Stabile Dewa, the director of Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE) once told TellZim News during the March 26, 2022 by-elections, that political violence against women and youths was hindering these marginalised groups from contesting and fully participating in politics.
“Political violence is worrisome; its reoccurrence during elections has continuous negative ripple effects to the participation of women and young persons in electoral processes as the assumptions of an election being violent and intolerant of women are always evident.
“We have noted that the violence has also migrated to online where women and youths are being attacked, and political parties are disseminating disinformation in attempt to win the elections. We condemn this with strongest possible terms and encourage politicians to create conducive environment for women and youths to freely participate,” said Dewa.
According to Dr Last Alfandika, a media lecturer at Great Zimbabwe University (GZU), youths have largely been on the receiving end of political antagonism, which has seen a drop in their interest to participate actively in electoral processes despite them being the majority.
He said systems should be developed to make sure that online spaces are safe for youths to freely participate. He said laws such as the Cyber Act should be fully implemented in order to reprimand those who commit cybercrimes and deliberately peddle disinformation.
Dr Alfandika also added that practical action should be taken to punish perpetrators of violence both off and online.
“There should be steps and mechanisms that deter people from repeating the perpetration of violence in the country. Perpetrators of political violence must not be protected as we have witnessed in the previous years were perpetrators were in fact rewarded. Lengthy jail sentences and fines will help deter people from committing political violence,” said Dr Alfandika.
He added that measures need to be taken to combat disinformation and misinformation in Zimbabwe so that the youth are not vulnerable to making decisions from a misinformed position.
“People must be trained to tell the difference between fake news, misinformation, disinformation, and real news. I am happy that organisations such as TellZim are taking a leading role to combat disinformation by training the youths on citizen journalism, election reporting and combating disinformation. I believe this will go a long way in combating disinformation because trained youths will take an active role to provide credible information and by so doing combat disinformation,” said Dr Alfandika.
