Inside Africa: Zimbabwe Trending
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In late July, “anti-government” protests were banned and lockdowns were enforced by police and military troops patrolling the streets in the capital, Harare. The protestors had planned on marching against the government in the wake of a series of human rights violations and COVID-19 which revealed faults in the healthcare system. Concerns regarding the country’s ability to provide adequate healthcare during a global health crisis, if there are enough drugs, equipment, medical staff, and anything else to provide treatment.
Despite the ban on protests, some small protests occurred anyways, leading to a mass of arrests. Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga, who had just been nominated for the Booker Prize for fiction for her novel, “This Mournable Body,” was among those arrested. Facing charges for “meeting with the intention to incite public violence, breach of the peace, and acts of bigotry,” Dangarembga has taken to social media to speak out against the government that arrested her. On #ZimbabweanLivesMatter, she said, “What I like about #ZimbabweanLivesMatter is a positive message. It's not aggressive. It's not confrontational, and it's unifying.” She hopes that with the movement, fellow Zimbabweans feel emboldened to speak out more against the country’s ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front.
Following Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain in 1980, Robert Mugabe, a member of the ZANU-PF party, became president and held his seat until 2017 when the current president, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, also a member of ZANU-PF, took office. Mugabe was resigned amid political unrest, and many were excited to see the nearly 40-year repressive rule come to an end. However, the recent protests and social media activists have indicated that not all the country’s problems are behind them. In-fighting within the party has also not done anything to provide stability and Individuals continue to be charged with treason at alarming rates and opposition activists continue to be rounded up, though the government does not necessarily admit this. Now, the right to protest is under fire. The right to free speech is being challenged as well. As many were arrested during the recent protests, more were put on a wanted list.
Along with Dangarembga, others have been arrested and charged during the recent protests. Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin'ono, who has his own hashtag #FreeHopewellnow, was arrested as well as Jacob Ngarivhume, Mnangagwa’s political opponent from the Transform Zimbabwe party. It is generally believed that Ngarivhume was arrested to discourage further protests, making an example of him to deter further protests. In light of these arrests, the police force and government are being accused of misusing and abusing their power. These actions are starting to draw attention to global human rights and celebrities like American hip-hop artist Ice Cube, South African rapper AKA, South African Pearl Thusi, and others. The videos shared with the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter with the support of these individuals. Even with the Zimbabwean government apparently working so hard to squash any potential political opposition. Another journalist, Mduduzi Mathuthu, was able to speak out, hiding in a bunker from his government and afraid. His nephew was later abducted and seriously injured, possibly by the law enforcement agency Mathuthu is hiding from himself. With these stories out, on-the-ground movements can take root. A hashtag can come and go with little impact if the boots on the ground, though the support helps.
South Africa has taken a special interest in Zimbabwe’s situation as well. South Africa has stepped in before, in 2018 during the unrest that followed Mugabe stepping down from the presidency. When brutality similar to what Zimbabwe is currently experiencing began, South Africa got involved. South Africa and Zimbabwe, close neighbors which don’t have the greatest of relationships. Meetings between the two look to address the abuses Zimbabwean people are facing today. Envoys are being sent from South Africa to Zimbabwe. Like the hope that Zimbabweans felt when Mugabe left, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had high expectations for Mnangagwa when he was first elected, though the Mnangagwa’s time in office challenges Mugabe’s time in terms of repression of anything that might challenge his power.
That challenge right now is coming in the form of a hashtag, something that can’t be thrown in jail, though it is not unprecedented for a country to block access to social media in times of turmoil. Across the continent, Africans are gaining access to social media as the technology becomes more widely available. In small roadside shops, in buses on the way to the city, anyone can be seen scrolling through Facebook and other popular social media platforms. Though most regions have a long way to go to promote more wide-spread usage as connecting the more rural regions and providing affordable access prove to be challenges, enough is being done to establish the platform as a space for the voiceless to speak up. Social media justice in the form of hashtags are only the start to more grassroots movements that mobilize people against corruption and abuses of power, like that in Zimbabwe. The global attention being drawn through #ZimbabweanLivesMatter could be the kick-start the country needs or it could fizzle out like many other trending hashtags often do.
Social media is becoming a tool to raise awareness and demand justice in the midst of social injustice and inequality. Police brutality, government corruption, and other kinds of human rights violations. It can be a platform to share experiences with those who have experienced the same things or tell those who have not and start conversations. Voices not heard finally having a platform. We see this happening in Zimbabwe with #ZimbabweanLivesMatter, a play off the trending American hashtag for Black Lives Matter. Similar to #BlackLivesMatter, the hashtag curates videos of police officers beating people, images of activists in the country speaking out against the imprisonment of journalists, and more, all trying to raise awareness for the situation in Zimbabwe that is gaining more and more international attention.
