The Chronicle
17 October 2009
By Lenin Ndebele
When President Robert Mugabe warned that the Internet needed to be controlled when he addressed the ICT conference in Switzerland two weeks ago, he had a point. Ask Professor Jonathan Moyo, who is a victim of Internet fraud.
Many people use social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo as harmless Internet meeting places but this social phenomenon has been hijacked by crooks stealing other people’s identities.
“I have never used Facebook but people tell me that I’m a member because they say that my picture is there. There is also my date of birth and so on. However, details like my e-mail and phone numbers are false. They direct to the phoney Prof Jonathan Moyo,” said the professor.
Moyo also said that there was a website running under his name and that did not belong to him.
“There is also a website called Prof-Jonathan-Moyo.com. It is not mine. Someone is being mischievous masquerading as me,” added the professor.
The Facebook profile that the professor denounces has about 109 friends. A fairly poor friendship base for a politician of his status.
Recently one Mluleki Mabaso posted a question to the said Moyo’s friends online that read: “do you think Jonathan Moyo is a good kisser?”
The Prof-Jonathan-Moyo.com website had opinion pieces written by the professor and have been published in the press as well as new sites backdating to 2005 as well as stories that have been written about Moyo ever since he was a Cabinet minister in February 2005.
The Prof-Jonathan-Moyo.com website even has advertisements running on it meaning that it is a commercial venture with someone earning a living out of it.
Does he fancy chat rooms?
“Actually I prefer Twitter. With Twitter you only communicate with people relevant to your discourse, it you don’t just get access by everyone and besides Twitter limits a person to about 150 characters when communicating so there is no room for junk,” said the professor.
With Twitter, many people who are close to you and know the name that you use in the chat room can get in touch with you making it impossible for stalkers or identity fraudsters.
Well there are some politicians that are legitimate on Facebook with proper details and they are online regularly. For example David Coltart, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture is regularly online.
His e-mail and phone number are the correct ones that even reporters use to call him for official comments. The Minister is kind enough to chat with people once in awhile. The Minister responsible, Nelson Chamisa, is obviously a regular in such social networks.
Then there is the most educated scientist in government, the professor of robotics, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara.
This reporter recently tried to get a conversation going with the professor who replied saying: “Yo wassup I am busy, chat later.”
The next day this reporter asked about the fate of his MDC-M and the reply came out as “find something better to do.”
Just out of curiosity, how many of our politicians are conversant with information technology?