THE (ZNA) will soon start snooping into private communications between citizens to “guard against subversion,”, clearly the country is moving towards a surveillance State!

ZIMBABWE GOVERNMENT recently appointed Mass Media trustees beginning with the appointment of six trustees by President Mnangagwa, following a 20 year dormant Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust, which interestingly is the majority shareholder in Zimpapers.

THE Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) commander Edzai Chimonyo says the military would soon start snooping into private communications between private citizens to “guard against subversion,” alarming media groups who fear that the country was moving towards a surveillance State.

Chimonyo told senior military commissioned officers at the Zimbabwe Military Academy (ZMA) in Gweru that social media was now a security threat which the uniformed forces should closely monitor.

“As commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, I am happy that the course laid a proper foundation in the areas of cyber security, which pose a dangerous threat to our national security,” Chimonyo told the army officers who had completed a 25-week training course in Gweru last Friday.

“Social media poses a dangerous threat to our national security. Social media is one of the tools that is being used for misinformation and I believe that your training has been an eye opener to the rigours and realities of technological advancements.”

But the Media Institute of Southern Africa Zimbabwe (Misa) said the threats of surveillance by the uniformed forces were alarming, saying the whole process of regulating digital security should be left to a civilian arm of the government through the ICT ministry.

Misa chairperson Tabani Moyo, said: “The issue of regulating the digital space should be done in a structured manner whereby there is a law that comes into effect. In this case the Ministry of ICT is drafting a Cyber Crime and Data Protection Bill which combines two broad thematic areas. We only hope that the government is coming up with this law for the purpose of enhancing communication through the digital space rather than shutting it down.

Zimbabweans have successfully used social media to mobilise against government, notably in 2016 when a spontaneous social media movement led by Evan Mawarire coalesced into the biggest uprising against Robert Mugabe, the former president who died in Singapore in September last year after his army removed him from power two years earlier.

A protest against rising fuel prices in January last year was also driven by social media as Zimbabweans bypassed traditional opposition parties to protest President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s handling of the failing economy. In response, the government shut down the internet and access to social media platforms to prevent people mobilizing before the courts.

The move by army chiefs has alarmed human rights groups, who say this was more evidence that the country was slipping back into authoritarian rule that characterised Mugabe’s near four-decade rule.

“The language of the uniformed forces threatening to undertake surveillance on quite sweeping statements of trying to counter surveillance materials is quite shocking. It smacks of a hyena trying to accuse its young one of smelling like a goat to justify cannibalism against its own.

“Our position as Misa Zimbabwe is that the whole process of regulation of the digital space should be left to the civilian arm of the government through the Ministry of ICTs. Where there are challenges pertaining to that law when it comes into effect that should be dealt with by the police”

Luke Tamborinyoka, the MDC deputy spokesperson yesterday told NewsDay that in trying to monitor social media, the army was over-stepping its constitutional mandate.

“We are simply dealing with an analogue regime in this digital age. What do soldiers have to do with the internet? This is absurd. If anyone commits any cyber crime that is an issue for the police and certainly not the military,” he said.

Cabinet last year approved a Cyber Crime, Security and Data Protection Bill drafted in 2016 and is set to be tabled before Parliament for debate. The Bill seeks to combat cyber crime and will give government a leeway to snoop on citizens’ private communication.

Observers say the crafting of the Bill showed the ruling Zanu PF’s paranoia following the emergence of social movements utilising social media platforms.

Chimonyo’s calls also come after self-exiled former Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo has released a series of Twitter threads insinuating the growing tension between the military and Mnangagwa.

The ZNA commander told the army officers to cascade down to their subordinates information on the need to monitor social media.

“I must remind you that our detractors have resorted to the use of social media platforms to subvert security forces in pursuit of their own hidden agendas and anyone working on a networked computer is under threat of cybercrime, hacking and subversion thus it must always be the responsibility of every one of you to be on the guard against social media subversion and help the men and women under your command to guard against such threats,” Chimonyo said.

The military course number 4/29/19 was made up of 68 specialist officers with senior ranks who included three captains; two warrant officers; 10 colour sergeants; 44 sergeants and nine private soldiers.
A Lawyer, Trust chairman and Zimpapers chairman Honour Piniel Mkushi will chair the trust again and the trustee will be Zimpapers board chairman Tommy Sithole, Ms Patience Gawe, ex police spokesperson Ms Charity Charamba, historian and educationist Pathisa Nyathi, and ex Midlands State University Vice Chancellor Professor Ngwabi Bhebe.

Zanu pf Nick Mangwana Mangwana told says that the Second Republic has put corporate governance issues at the heart of everything it is doing. More news to follow.
Im very familiar with this system. Zanu pf, monopolises wealth and power, blocks devolution, centralises control and thrives on maintaining a firm grip on information dissemination, who can say anything, how, when and what to say. I have always been defiant to oppressive authority by the Zanu pf regime from as far back as the Mugabe days at University of Zimbabwe in the early 1990s.

I was fortunate enough to spot this at an early age and used my position to benefit the nation through information dissemination in issues that directly affect the ordinary person including human rights, good governance, accountability, transparency, housing, employment, development, girl child, equality, gender, peace, climate change, pollution, youth, freedom and more issues that directly affect the ordinary person.

I was appointed as the National Head of Training and Mass media in Agritex in 1994 straight from University and because I am multilingual, being fluent in English, Ndebele and Shona I was able to relocate to Bulawayo and still run the National Agritex Mass media system and training.

I was in charge of 7 farming radio programmes on ZBC, which meant I would be on the road nationwide into the deepest, remote areas recording radio programmes with staff and rural farmers and commercial farmers for weekly recording at Bulawayo Montrose ZBC studios for broadcast on Radio 2 and Radio 4 which were 1) Nhau Dzevarimi, 2) Kuchengetedzwa kwezvipfuwoi, 3) Tinokushevedzai Varimi, and the Ndebele versions of these programmes 4)Izindaba Zabalimi, 5)-Ukugcinwa kwezifuyo, 6)-Sibiza Abalimi and the English version Farm Diary on Radio 1.

This was busy schedule but I was never going to fully exercise independence of thought under the Mugabe Zanu pf regime, so when opportunity arose two years later I joined an NGO as the Projects officer heading the Outreach department. This was an exciting opportunity as it entailed, writing, editing, translation of documents across three languages for staff and the grass roots people. I already had a wide well established working base across rural and commercial farming areas so it was a smooth flow. This is how and why I was able to speak out and be the voice of the voiceless in matters that directly affect the ordinary person.

Again because I was an unchained spirit, freely writing articles in English Shona and Ndebele including titles such as 1)The Police and your Rights, 2)Amapholisa lamalungelo Enu 3) Mapurisa nekodzero dzenyu, 4) Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP), 5) You and your Councillor 6) You and your Votes, 6) Year 2000 elections, a critical election as this was the first general election which MDC then under Richard Morgan Tsvangirai took part in, the year Mugabe fully realised that the natives were on the war path and wanted freedom, so he tightened the screws especially around, freedom of expression, human rights, media and much more.

Its just funny that now between twenty five to thirty years later, opposition are daily demanding the same rights and freedoms , people like me documented and distributed publicly way back then and alerted the people and sadly the government about the level of oppression in place.

Zanu pf has never changed, its stuck into its retrogressive nature and thrives on dis-information, denial of rights and freedom, as you can see from some of the titles I tackled fearlessly under the repressive Mugabe regime, pictured here. I established independence from oppressive authority in the free Western world and have set up platforms for the people as below: Zimbabwe has a wide base of skills and knowledge and experience spread across the globe, which opposition fail to utilise. There is a need to unite all this wealth of knowledge irrespective of race, religion, gender, tribe and political orientation , around the future of the motherland and lead a united , credible, formidable people based platform of defiance to oppression.

This Zanu pf mess has gone on for too long and its simply foolish that we sit back and plan to vote in 2023 to remove Zanu pf, a continuous 5 year repeat of stole elections by Zanu pf since Independence on 18 April 1980.

The knowledge, skills and ideas are abundant but there is too much greed and hatred amongst a heavily broken opposition in mineral, land and resources wealth Zimbabwe Republic , with too many Zanu pf leaders, Business Cartels, Global forces and other interested parties out to amass wealth from the continuous chaos in place.

The fact of the matter is that with all these players involved, the people are at the bottom end of the food chain,..absolutely irrelevant in the matter! The most painful aspect is that even those wealthy Zimbabweans spread out globally, are benefiting massively from the chaos and corruption in place and wouldnt have it any other way. Take for example, the media worldwide, thrives on news, as no news is not good news.

It is the bad things that generate readership, sponsorship and adverts and control over the media by the corrupt wealthy figures. Lest you forget, it is the same things that generate profits and employment across the media and thats why governments rush to draw media into their camps when they come into power. The media will be in place to influence thoughts and opinions through what they disseminate, mostly running with the prevaling governments agenda,..Im just saying Wake up Zimbabwe, show wisdom in your choice of media to follow! DISCUSS! Sibusiso Ngwenya

Zanu-PF now genuinerly fears a public uprising against the militarised Mnangagwa Zanu pf regime

Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown constitutes the biggest threat to Zanu-PF’s continued hold on power, the ruling party has admitted.

The country is going through one of the worst economic crises since 2013 characterised by severe currency shortages, scarce fuel supplies and galloping inflation.

A United Nations expert last month said Zimbabwe is on the brink of a man made starvation.

Hilal Elver, the UN’s special rapporteur on the right to food, made the observation after an 11-day assessment.

She attributed the crisis to hyperinflation, poverty, natural disasters and economic sanctions, among other things.

The government, however, described Elver’s findings as exaggerations but the admission by Zanu-PF in a central committee report tabled at the ruling party’s just-ended annual conference in Goromonzi showed that the authorities are having sleepless nights over the crisis.

In the report, Zanu-PF commissar Victor Matemadanda said the crisis threatened the party’s own existence. Zanu-PF does not take responsibility for the chaos in the economy.

“The most latent security threat that has great consequences is the unstable economy, which is largely propelled by the parallel market (black market),” reads part of the report.

“Formal trading prices are determined by the parallel market exchange rate, which has been sharply rising on a daily basis.

“Prices of all commodities and services have followed suit to unsustainable levels.

“Most people are failing to make ends meet, so are poverty levels that are rising very much throughout the country.

“As a result, anger is brewing among the citizens while there is loss of confidence on the direction the economy is taking.”

In January a steep increase in the price of fuel led to violent protests across the country, which were ruthlessly put down by the army and police.

Human rights groups said as many as 17 people were killed when security forces fired live ammunition during the three days of demonstrations.

Several women were allegedly raped by soldiers. Since then the government has been refusing to give the main opposition MDC clearance to hold protests, saying the situation in the country remained volatile.

The central committee report recommended that Zanu-PF should prioritise programmes aimed at resuscitating the economy for its survival.

“As the party continues to prioritise the resuscitation of the economy, the national security (organs) need to maintain a peaceful environment around the country to enable unperturbed economic growth,” the report added.

Zanu-PF also describes the MDC and civil society groups as a security threat as they are allegedly working together in efforts to topple Mnangagwa.

“The opposition, together with their international allies, have attempted to put pressure on President Mnangagwa to start a separate dialogue with opposition leader Nelson Chamisa,” the report added.

“It is interesting to note that some NGOs, civil society organisations and some western countries continue to fight in the opposition’s corner by morally supporting their acts of destabilisation.

“The same organisations have been urging America and its European allies to maintain the illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe citing alleged human rights violations by security services.”

The party accused the organisations of “staging” abductions of their members “to ensure that the country is viewed in political bad light”.

MDC, the report claims, is working with some community based organisations that organise cultural, sporting and arts festivals as well as sexual reproductive education programmes to recruit supporters ahead of the 2023 general election.

“These programmes are being done as campaign strategies by MDC ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections,” Zanu-PF claimed.

Chamisa and the MDC refused to recognise Mnangagwa’s election victory in last year’s elections citing alleged vote rigging.

The opposition party has been pushing for dialogue between the two leaders to resolve the crisis, but Zanu-PF insists that there is no need for the talks.

Instead Mnangagwa set up a dialogue forum of fringe political parties that took part in the July 2018 presidential elections, which the MDC has dismissed as a farce.

Churches have also been pushing for dialogue between Mnangagwa and Chamisa to resolve Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis, which has left millions on the brink of starvation.

According to the UN, 60% of Zimbabwe’s population is food insecure due to a severe drought during the 2018/19 farming season.

Mnangagwa, who took over from Mugabe in 2017 following a military coup, has been struggling to deliver on his promise of a quick economic turnaround.

Foreign investors continue to stay away from Zimbabwe due to the unstable political situation in the country and unpredictable economic policies.

In June Zimbabwe dumped the multi-currency regime that had helped stabilise the economy for over a decade and reverted back to its own currency.

The Zimbabwe dollar, however, has been losing value rapidly due to low economic activity in the country.

Also amongst major immediate issues of concern, The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is deeply concerned with the various constitutional amendments that were recently proposed by the Zanu PF regime.

Indeed, despite all the grave concerns and strong reservations that were raised by many quarters of society, the raft of amendments were Gazetted on the 31st of December 2019 under Amendment 2 – HB23/2019.

The MDC is strongly opposed to the amendments since they are by and large a mere mutilation and an unjustifiable attack by the regime on an inclusive Constitution which represents fully, the varied political will of the people of Zimbabwe.
By so doing, the regime seeks to reverse the democratic gains of the 2013 Constitution by abusing its Parliamentary Majority to steam-roll the horrendous defacement of our people’s Constitution.
Of particular concern to the MDC are the proposed amendments which seek at their core, to unbridle key judicial and electoral safeguards as well as the integrity of important constitutional on institutions.

This tends to taint every other amendments included in the raft of amendments with the same mischief and as such, the entire raft must be rejected.

Firstly, the proposed amendments will allow the President to appoint judges and the Prosecutor General directly without the Judicial Services Commission conducting public interviews. These proposals by the regime, are against both international and regional best practices which recommend rigorous interviewing and vetting processes to ensure that judicial appointments are according to merit.

As such, what is clear therefore is that the regime’s motivation for this lack of transparency is merely to place political puppets at the helm of our judiciary.
Secondly, the proposed amendments de-couples ZEC’s delimitation function from the population census held every 10 years. The MDC believes that the present clauses on delimitation are progressive and that the regime’s attempt to amend them is mischievous and show its lack of commitment to real electoral reform.

The removal of an elected Vice President as a running mate makes it quite clear that the sole motive of the raft of amendments is personal aggrandizement and the consolidation of internal factional politics by Emmerson Mnangagwa and nothing more. It stems from his illegitimate reign.

Indeed, what we may now be witnessing are the fruits of this illegitimacy in its full blaze.

It is ironic that its first victim is the judiciary which ensconced him in his illegitimate seat.

In his 2020 Agenda setting statement to the nation, the People’s President Advocate Nelson Chamisa highlighted that “the Constitutional amendments seek to restore the Imperial Presidency that we thought we had dealt with decisively in 2013 through the approval in the referendum of a new constitution…the call for alignment of the constitution must be stronger than before.”

Therefore, MDC as the custodian and true promoter of the people’s will, strongly objects to these proposed amendments and will actively resist them.

The MDC is thus calling upon all the people of Zimbabwe to rise up and start to actively resist this raft of proposed changes both during the so-called consultative process and also to utilise their varied means of expression to resist this move and render it illegitimate.
MDC: Change that Delivers
Kucaca PhuluSecretary for Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs
Source – zimbabwemai,bulawayo 24, standard

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