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Lawson Mabhena, Zimpapers Elections Desk
In the modern day state of nature — the internet in general and social media in particular — citizens infringe on each other’s’ liberties with impunity. Fake news is deliberately created to cause harm, slander is the order of the day, alarm and despondency are the endgame.
The sovereign has limited authority over ordinary people who have essentially become a law unto themselves. This is usually the problem when sovereign authority strives to uphold legitimate power without sacrificing disputable constitutional liberties. Was it not Thomas Hobbes who warned in the 1600s that the law is dependent upon the sanction of the sovereign as “covenants without the sword are but words, and of no strength to secure a man at all”.
And when unrestrained by a sword-wielding government, the people are consumed by “a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death”.
As Zimbabwe draws closer and closer to election day, August 23, the state of nature inevitably becomes harder to navigate as the rubble of misinformation and disinformation continues to pile up. If the veil of hatred is not lifted from our eyes, Zimbabwe will be razed by a wildfire of fake news.
A paradox of our time is that lies spread much faster than the truth on social media — way much faster. A 2018 study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that “it took the truth about six times as long as falsehood to reach 1 500 people” on social media. The purveyors of fake news know that they have a longer reach than the truth. They ride on the wave of polarisation and the isolation of Zimbabwe by imperialist western countries. A good example of their bad journalism is a story last week claiming an aspiring Zanu-PF legislator, Energy Mutodi, fired a gun at main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) members who were waiting for party leader Nelson Chamisa’s arrival at Baradzanwa Township in Bikita, Masvingo Province. To cement these claims, news websites turned to a video circulating on social media which they claimed showed Mutodi, a former Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services deputy minister, brutally assaulting a victim with a sjambok before torturing him with a hammer.
It is quite clear to those who know Mutodi that he is not the man in the video, and it is not surprising that the Bikita South National Assembly aspirant is now suing Chamisa and three others for US$5 million. “The sacked minister reportedly besieged the CCC rally venue and started pelting stones before firing two gun shots at opposition members. He was accompanied by a group of Zanu-PF supporters in two trucks,” New Zimbabwe.com sensationally reported without bothering to verify the allegations. The motive of the story is to portray a brutal electoral environment where Zanu-PF members engage in violence with impunity. The intention is to discredit a Zanu-PF victory by claiming the elections were never free and fair.
And because lies spread much faster than the truth on social media, many people will believe this story without bothering to verify. Another example of disinformation is a sensational claim by an online media house that presidential aspirant Saviour Kasukuwere is being backed by the military.
The claim, which was smuggled into a story on Kasukuwere when the High Court ordered the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to remove him from the ballot, was not supported by any verifiable facts, sources or quotes. It was, instead, supported by commentary.
“Zimbabwe’s independent presidential election candidate Saviour Kasukuwere, who has put the fear of God in President Emmerson Mnangagwa as he is backed by security forces in a bid to oust him, says he is appealing the High Court judgment barring him from standing in the cut-throat poll on 23 August,” News Hawks posted on social media.
By claiming a former Local Government minister and Zanu-PF political commissar is being backed by the military to remove the incumbent leader of the party, the intention is to make the world believe that President Mnangagwa is at war with his own military. And as if the attacks on the executive arm of Government are not enough, News Hawks has gone on to create deliberately misleading information targeting the judiciary.
“Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court — which usually makes fair decisions except on major politically sensitive cases — faces a stern litmus credibility test on 26 July when it is expected to decide the fate of independent candidate Saviour Kasukuwere in the 23 August crucial presidential election. The Supreme Court will hear and decide on a badly flawed High Court judgement barring the former Zanu-PF commissar, MP and minister from running in the election,” the media outlet posted.
The Supreme Court does not make fair decisions on “major politically sensitive cases” and a High Court judgement is “badly flawed” — no institution is safe from disinformation in the state of nature.
To protect our institutions and our people, a covenant with the sword is needed to secure us all before we destroy ourselves.
Long before, man failed to survive without sovereignty or law in the state of nature; that’s how sovereigns were born to secure rights, property and life.
A social contract is needed now more than ever to govern our conduct on social media. The sword to be wielded by the sovereign must come from us, Zimbabweans. After all, we are the ones burning in the wildfire of fake news.
Online Reporter