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Christopher Makaza Herald Correspondent
As the country approaches the 2023 harmonised general elections, major events will be happening and the main news sources for many Zimbabweans will be social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter among others.
Purveyors of fake news will also be on the rise as they aim to discredit political rivals. By its definition, fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, and is harmful to our community as it makes the world less informed, and erodes trust.
Freedom to communicate and express opinions is necessary to effectively demand and enforce Government obligations and accountability. However, spreading fake news is not the freedom that the country needs.
A number of fake images and documents especially from the opposition political parties and Government detractors usually gain credibility, after they are picked up as news by the mainstream media. The fake news by the opposition elements and detractors is only mainly aimed at whipping people’s emotions for them to rise against the Government.
Social media in Zimbabwe is always awash with fake abductions, torture and assault claims by CCC against Zanu PF officials. The opposition political party is trying to build a public case that the 2023 elections would neither be free nor fair to attract the international community’s attention.
In January 2020, CCC interim spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere, deputy chairperson Job Sikhala and activist, Hopewell Chin’ono, were arrested for spreading fake news on social media that a police officer had killed a child strapped on his mother’s back while clearing people from an undesignated hiking spot along Sam Nujoma Street in Harare’s Avenues area.
Several false death reports of ministers and ZANU PF senior members have been posted and circulated on social media, causing anxiety among family members.
In January 2021, a Beitbridge couple was arrested for allegedly sending a message to a WhatsApp group claiming that President Mnangagwa had succumbed to Covid-19. Following the death of Moreblessing Ali, Sikhala posted images of two dead bodies on a river bank in South Africa, claiming that it was in Zimbabwe and that one of the dead bodies was that of Ali.
There is need for the Government to urgently enact the Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill into law. The proposed law seeks to punish those who abuse the social media, internet and communication networks and make the growing financial digital systems and e-commerce more efficient and better protected. The Bill has gone through Parliament and now awaits the assent of the President to become a law.
The Government and an ICT expert welcomed the passage of the Bill, saying it will go a long way in curbing cyber-crimes. However, media rights groups such as the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), has called on regional Governments to desist from criminalising fake news saying it hindered freedom of expression.
During a Twitter discussion on the impact of criminalisation of fake news on constitutional rights on 6 October 2022, Misa noted that criminalising fake news might revive the Criminal Defamation Act which has since been outlawed.
MISA observed that criminalising the publication of falsehoods promoted self-censorship and infringed on citizens’ fundamental rights, adding that as a result, ordinary people are not able to fully exercise their digital rights.
MISA’s sentiments are uncalled for considering that the spread of fake news appears to be on the rise and will have a negative impact on the 2023 general elections, with the opposition spreading fake news to influence people’s vote and to cause unrest. MISA is fighting from the opposition political parties’ corner, protecting social media culprits who happen to be opposition elements.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has been the major victim of the spread of fake news and in most cases work overtime to correct disinformation peddled by opposition elements through social media about the electoral processes and the ZEC personnel.
Zimbabwe is not the first African country trying to deal with the issue of fake news. In 2018, Kenya passed the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes law which criminalised abuse of social media and cyber bullying. It was the latest in East Africa to punish the spreading of “false information” and impose a lengthy jail term on offenders.
It proposed a fine of US$50,000 (£37 000) and or up to two years in prison for publishing “false” information. Similar measures to curb the spread of fake news have also been introduced in Tanzania and Uganda.
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