guest column :Takudzwanashe Mundenga THE State in Zimbabwe under the ruinous leadership of the Zanu PF party is further shrinking the democratic space through the introduction of new laws that will make it a one-party State. Slowly and probably without realising, the landlocked southern African nation is graduating into the North Korea of Africa in all aspects of tyranny. While we are still in the era of the trending online #Zimbabweanlivesmatter, with the whole universe closely watching the crimes against humanity in our setting, the State seems unrepentant in its conduct. Instead, the Emmerson Mnangagw-led administration is seizing the moment to display more ruthlessness and intolerance against opposing forces. Innocent people have been thrown behind bars and denied bail for criticising the President and the government, despite freedom of expression being an inviolable right espoused in the Constitution. Since the President and his lieutenants have confessed unfamiliarity with the social media algorithm, they think their government is under threat from internet trolls. Hence, they seek to enact the Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill that will likely silence the citizens by regulating the only space through which hordes of Zimbabweans could air their concerns without fear of persecution. The State is prepared to infringe the right to privacy in the pursuit of unrequited love. Unrequited because it expects the people to love it despite its shortcomings. Mnangagwa’s government is known for its observable hostility with the internet. Zanu PF officials have on many occasions accused social media users of peddling negativity on the country in the international arena. Both #ThisFlag and the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter hashtags have been dismissed as suffixes of fake news. Amid the growing social media campaign #Zimbabweanlivesmatter, President Emmerson Mnangagwa issued a speech directed at the protesters. He vowed to “flush out bad apples” trying to divide the country as pressure mounted on the government to stop human rights violations. Social media is the only technology standing in Zanu PF party’s way that cannot be intimidated, propagandised or controlled. The Zanu PF-led government is even petty to the extent that the former editor of the State-owned Herald newspaper, Joram Nyathi was fired for failing to put pictures of Mnangagwa on the front page upon his return from a foreign trip. In January 2019, the government ordered a social media blackout after deadly protests rocked major urban centres in response to a massive fuel price hike. Recently, a Bulawayo man, Victor Majoni was arrested for posting a video clip on his WhatsApp status, showing a woman criticising the Day of National Prayer declared by Mnangagwa. Hence, it is from that backdrop that the Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill can only be viewed as another survival strategy by the regime. No matter the government is trying to portray itself as a protector of citizens in the explanations given to the media concerning the Bill, there is terrible history
