New technologies in the form of the social media, ICTs, they are certainly having an impact on people’s lives. I’m not sure if I can say they’re having an impact on the politics in the country. We certainly have more people being able to use mobile phones, and a lot of people also having access to the Internet through their phones, and also being able to use Internet cafes. I think in a recent report, the regulating authority of post and telecommunications actually said that there are about 73 percent of Zimbabweans who own a mobile phone. And we have also recognized that it is also possible now for people to send money using the mobile phone.
I would say there are a significant number of people who are using Facebook. Not too many who are using Twitter. We know it exists, but I think probably a lot of people have not caught on to Twitter, although here and there you will get messages of people who will be tweeting. And I would say that’s the situation in terms of the new technologies vis-à-vis Zimbabwean people. The new technologies are certainly providing new information for people, but I think it’s also important to understand that the majority Zimbabweans who are in the rural areas would just use the mobile phone for communication purposes when they speak to their children who are in the urban areas, or their children who are in the diaspora. And we wouldn’t really expect them to be getting on the Internet, but they would just hold the phone when a message comes through or when it rings.
So I would say probably the young people – when you go to the Internet and probably you are surfing on the news, you will discover that there are a lot of people who give their own comments on things that are happening around them. And obviously, that’s not the majority Zimbabweans who are able to do that.
Jestina M. Mukoko is the National Director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, a nonprofit organization that monitors and documents political violence in Zimbabwe. As Zimbabwe’s premier monitoring body, the organization maintains a strong network throughout the country that is able to bring widespread attention to occurrences of political violence.
A long-time leader in the human rights and activist communities in Zimbabwe, Ms. Mukoko was abducted from her home on December 3, 2008, by state security agents for her work monitoring the brutality of the Robert Mugabe government. During her 21-day abduction, she was tortured, beaten, and forced to confess to a crime she did not commit. She remained detained until a court granted her bail on March 2, 2009.
For her steadfastness on issues related to human rights, Jestina Mukoko was named the 2009 Laureate of the City of Weimar (Germany) Human Rights Prize and a 2010 recipient of the U.S. Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award. In 2009, Ms. Mukoko was awarded the NANGO (National Association of Nongovernmental Organizations) Peace Award. For her commitment and perseverance, she received the French National Order of the Legion of Honor award in 2011.
She serves on several boards, including those of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, and the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for Zimbabwe. A former news anchor for the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, she is also mentoring with the Female Students Network, a youth organization.
A peace and human rights campaigner, Jestina Mukoko is also a mother. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Politics and Administration from the University of Zimbabwe. Ms. Mukoko was the 2010 Fellow at the Oak Institute for International Human Rights at Colby College in Maine. In 2012, she joined other mid-career professionals as a Draper Hills Summer Fellow on Democracy and Development Program at Stanford University.
Mugabe’s social and economic policies have been disastrous. An estimated one-fifth of the population is infected with HIV. Life expectancy has declined dramatically since 1990. Land redistribution in the 1990s cut food production and led to hunger and disease. The government’s mismanagement of the economy led to hyperinflation in the 2000s, reaching an estimated peak of 13 billion percent in November 2008.
Mugabe has stifled democracy and human rights since coming to power. The government cracks down on opposition political parties and civil society groups. Basic rights such as freedom of expression and assembly are not respected. Violence surrounding the 2008 elections led to a power-sharing agreement between ZANU and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Freedom House rates Zimbabwe as not free in political rights and civil liberties, noting Mugabe’s frequent abuses of power, corruption, regime-sponsored political violence, the lack of independent media, and flawed electoral processes.