YOU might say there are three players in this week’s Zimbabwean election: the leaders of the two main political parties pontificating about how they will improve lives; and the online rabble-rouser, Baba Jukwa.
It is to the website of the locally based Scarlet Pimpernel that Zimbabweans turn for information on the poll. He tells his fans he not only sits in Harare, but opposite State House. He claims to be a Zanu (PF) mole, and, frankly, no conspiracy is too bizarre in Zimbabwe. But it is more likely he and his network are Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) members.
His “revelations” of Zanu (PF)’s dirty tricks come complete with phone numbers to empower his followers to harass police officers, politicians and sycophants who support the party that, after 33 years in power, has left the country in tatters.
Jukwa’s Facebook page details the goings-on among the party’s elite. For example, he revealed the fact that the police’s printing unit had been called in by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to print ballot papers after the companies contracted to print papers for the chaotic special votes for security forces failed to deliver enough. Both the commission, as it is constituted, and the police remain aligned to Zanu (PF). Jukwa suggests the move means police can now ensure there are sufficient ballot papers for the rural areas, President Robert Mugabe’s stronghold, and shortages in the cities, which are dominated by MDC voters.
Jukwa also takes issue with African Union (AU) Commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who he has called a “Trojan horse” for Zanu (PF). He claimed her long-time sympathies for Zanu (PF), from her days as foreign minister, meant she was a “threat” to a free and fair vote, being likely to turn a blind eye to evidence of Mugabe’s electoral manipulation.
Dlamini-Zuma flew into Harare last week to assess the situation ahead of the election and expressed her satisfaction with preparations for the poll. She was quick to endorse Zanu (PF) victories in successive elections over the past decade, despite widespread evidence of rigging and violations of human rights.
Jukwa’s Facebook page revives the rumour from a decade ago of an alleged romance between Dlamini-Zuma and her Zimbabwean counterpart at the time, Stan Mudenge, which was fuelled by her giving him a lift in her chartered aircraft from an AU meeting in Chad in 2003.
Jukwa’s Facebook page is just one of many online information sources in this election, albeit one of the more entertaining ones. If you take away the online information, Zimbabweans are left mostly at the mercy of Zanu (PF)’s propaganda arms in print, radio and TV, which relentlessly undermine the party’s opponents.
The party has almost unparalleled access to the rural areas and it has accused the recently launched independent TV station, 1st TV, which is run from South Africa, of “hurting Zimbabwe’s interests”.
The internet and social media have allowed people to see, hear and read information and different opinions about the state of their nation, which they did not readily have access to in previous elections. Cellphone penetration is 97% and internet subscriptions have doubled in the past two years. A quick glance at a few random Facebook statistics shows the increasing cynicism about politicians and their promises that is in evidence in many parts of the world today.
Zanu (PF)’s Facebook page has 2,375 people who “like” it. Mugabe has several Facebook pages but their “likes” range from a few thousand to about 30,000. Tsvangirai’s page has more than 93,000 “likes”. Jukwa, meanwhile, has more than 286,000 Facebook “likes”.
Technology will force greater transparency in governance over time. Whoever wins what promises to be a tightly contested election would do well to remember that.
• Games is CEO of Africa @ Work, an African consulting company.