Newsday
21 October 2010
By Mernat Mafirakurewa
Last month Finance minister Tendai Biti revealed shocking statistics that ministers in the inclusive government were ignorant of technology with a mere 10% bothering to open and use e-mail addresses.
He said some ministers even raised a storm over the amount of money allocated to the Information Communication Technology (ICT) ministry arguing that the portfolio was unimportant, if not irrelevant.
“I was shocked when I realised that less than 10% of Cabinet ministers have email addresses,†he said.
“I circulated a document to them under the pretext that I wanted to increase allowances, I was shocked that most of them did not have e-mails.â€
However, the tide is changing, with several politicians from MDC-99, MDC-T, Zanu PF, Mavambo and MDC-M having started embracing online social networking to spread their political agenda.
With nearly 1,5 million people in Zimbabwe having some form of access to the Internet, it is clear that there is critical mass of people that politicians can access.
In addition, there are many Zimbabweans who turn to Facebook to stay updated on political developments in the country.
MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai currently has over
56 000 friends on Facebook setting a platform for him to push his political message.
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, leader of MDC-M, has close to 5 000 friends while his secretary-general, Welshman Ncube, who has been linked with a bid to topple him at the next congress, has just over 400 friends.
A quick search for the profile of President Robert Mugabe’s showed several Mugabe profiles, an indication that people were using his name to create fake profiles.
Prominent politicians that have taken to social networks in Zimbabwe include ICT Minister Nelson Chamisa, David Coltart and Simba Makoni.
A cursory survey of the politicians’ Facebook postings showed that politicians address the mundane to the serious in their postings.
In one of his recent postings on Facebook, Nelson Chamisa, who is also MDC T spokesperson, said: “A dark political cloud is forming in Zimbabwe.
The storm looks inevitable . . . We are in God’s ever capable handsâ€.
A day before the Warriors’ match against Cape Verde, Saviour Kasukuwere, Zanu PF deputy youth secretary, wrote on his Facebook wall:
“Looking forward to victory.
Go, Warriors, goâ€.
Other politicians were even using the social network to advance their business interests.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, Obert Gutu, posted that “once a lawyer . . . always a lawyer: Kindly be advised that Gutu & Chikowero Attorneys-at-Law is now live on Facebook.â€
Gutu is also an avid Arsenal supporter. Finance minister Tendai Biti in his posting of September 26, acknowledged the importance of prayer.
“Good people I trust that as we continue executing this struggle against dictatorship and autocracy you all recognise the importance of prayer,†read his posting.
Job Sikhala, the leader of MDC-99 has also been using the social network to advance his party’s views on issues such as violence and the constitution- making process.
In his recent postings Sikhala said: “I wish to warn all mandarins, zealots and rascals from Zanu PF currently terrorising people in Masvingo in the current diabolical and murderous ‘Operation Kubudirana Pachena’ that I’m coming down there to defend the masses and I’m prepared for everything and anything.
For the record, I will be in Masvingo starting tomorrow. I intend to weed out these pests.â€
Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn, led by former Zanu PF stalwart and one-time preferred successor to President Mugabe Simba Makoni, has also created a Facebook page with links to the party’s website.
Mavambo, through the social network, said the right to own land and right to education were the two key objectives of the liberation struggle.
“Landless peasants, whose sons and daughters formed half of the freedom fighters, were fighting primarily for land,†reads part of former Education minister Fay Chung’s posting on the wall.