By Arthur Chatora
February will undoubtedly go down in the annals of the country’s social media history with two significant developments that have shaken the digital landscape. One is the Information, Media and Broadcasting Services minister Prof Jonathan Moyo’s grand entrance onto the social media space, setting up a Twitter and Facebook account, preceded by a contentious directive from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) President Morgan Tsvangirai to “regulate” the usage of WhatsApp groups by party members (not social media as a broader set of communicative platforms). The developments have elicited mixed reactions from various sections of the media and social media users.
Prof Moyo was named as the Zanu PF Secretary for Science and Technology at the party’s elective congress in December last year. Moyo said he decided to join social media against the backdrop of his appointment at the congress coupled with the “longstanding push from my kids whose life revolve around social media”. Acknowledging the power and potential of social media platforms, Prof Moyo said, “social media are really cool as digital platforms and I acknowledge their amazing power in facilitating interactive communication beyond the boundaries of space and time and in ways that can improve lives and livelihoods” and you can “ignore [them] to your own peril.”
Beyond these niceties and pleasantries, certainly lies the realisation and acceptance of the importance of social media as discursive spaces for critical engagement. Prof Moyo who, “previously vowed never to use [social media] in a thousand years” said in a series of Tweets, the platforms are “so pervasive that it is longer possible to be relevant in any human endeavour without using them.” This marks an interesting turn of events in the Minister’s attitude towards digital platforms but it remains to be seen whether the aversion towards social media audiences exhibited by state media will tone down.
In vintage Prof Moyo fashion, he immediately posted a loaded Tweet interpreted by some as a dig at Tsvangirai saying, “those who don’t use social media in one way or another and those who plan to ban their use are doomed.” Interestingly, the hallmark of social media, which is interactivity and critical user engagement greeted Prof Moyo as one user quipped, “@kudzani_ndlovu is RG Mugabe using it?” The Minister also tweeted, “abuse of social media e.g in fake revolutions such as so-called Arab Spring give society enough reasons to question virtues of social media.” This tweet ignited comments from users questioning the Minister for calling the Arab Springs “fake.” These early posts/tweets indicate an intention to ignite discussions and set a different agenda on this space.
The one-sided coverage/commentary of the development by state media makes for an interesting reading. The Chronicle story, “Prof Moyo gets started on Twitter Facebook” and The Herald simply reported the development, quoting Prof Moyo’s tweets and Facebook posts, without making any reference to user comments or authoritative others on what the occurrence means. A number of users have welcomed the Minister, hoping for “interesting”, informed, critical engagement with other users cautiously optimistic of the development. However, other social media users have been rather unforgiving. The Minister’s grand entrance has been greeted with suspicion amongst social media audiences with Takura Zhangazha tweeting, “Ironic: Zim min of info gets onto social media while no one with contrary views is allowed or covered by @ZBCNewsonline”. Similarly, other users have tweeted the development as a “no-event as long as the gag on more pervasive mediums [press and broadcasting] continues.”
The comments from social media indicate that users remain deeply concerned that the development does not signal a break from the past, nor indicate a major media policy shift but it could just be business as usual. Against the backdrop of the “Mugabe fall” and the subsequent memes which went viral on social media, it is not implausible to argue that Prof Moyo’s entrance is not coincidental but a well calculated move to set the agenda on social media platforms. In an information age where news breaks on social media, it is not surprising that Moyo acknowledges the value of these platforms. Social media interactions are difficult to control considering that facts and opinions are formulated in this digital public sphere before any gatekeeper has had a chance to spin or reframe them. Social media generally gives currency to this free-flow of ideas and it is the new site for political and cultural contestations.
Against this backdrop, it is evident that if you do not want to be overtaken by events [ e.g Mugabe fall story], the best way to influence public opinion and keep abreast of public discourse is to get onto the digital platforms where news breaks. It is a realisation by Prof Moyo and Zanu PF that it’s a sink or swim world, insofar as influencing and controlling public debate is concerned. The development has much political significance and signals the desire to influence public discourse and set the agenda on the new frontier, on social media publics.
