Abstract
In his analysis of the 2013 elections in Zimbabwe, Donald Moore stopped short of saying that Zimbabwean democracy had breathed its last. Moore noted that a combination of Zimbabwe African National Union — Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF)’s tricks, coercion, populism, regional peers’ collusion and the opposition’s lackadaisical campaign produced a ZANU-PF “victory” that even surprised the victors (Moore, 2014, p. 47). In this election, the incumbent, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, got a 61% share of the presidential vote against Morgan Tsvangirai’s 34%. Given the various intrusions on individual freedoms in the run-up to and during the election, many scholars, like Moore, wondered whether the democratization process could be saved from this massive onslaught. Scholars have identified issues how ZANU-PF invested into its power-retention motive through a number of measures including the military-dominated registry and electoral commission, the marshalling of the military and militia to its cause (which organs in turn tortured, killed and raped perceived opponents especially in the 2008 presidential run-off elections), manipulating the inclusive government and hiring a foreign gang of election mercenaries (Moore, 2014, p. 147). Languages of catastrophe that emerged from academics seemed to give democracy no chance, and also took away the initiative from the ordinary person. Counter-narratives that emerged during, and in the immediate aftermath, of these elections have masked the various ways through which pro-democratic forces within the country had, against seemingly insurmountable odds, made their voices heard and perhaps even narrowed the avenues that had previously been shamelessly manipulated by the incumbent political party. In the process, these forces have created a database for most electoral-related issues — which might be exploited by those seeking a more nuanced understanding of what actually transpired during the 2008 and 2013 elections.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allan, Stuart. (2007). Citizen journalism and the rise of “mass self-communication”: Reporting the London bombings. Global Media Journal 1(1): 1–20.
Atwood, A. (2010). “Kubatana in Zimbabwe: Mobile Phones for Advocacy”. In SMS Uprising: Mobile Phone Activism in Africa, S. Ekine (ed.), Cape Town: Pambazuka Press, 86–104.
“Baba Jukwa’s brother arrested”. http://www.myzimbabwe.co.zw/news/379-baba-jukwa-s-brother-arrested.html, Retrieved 3 July 2014.
Banks, K. (2008). Mobile phones play role in Zimbabwe.http://www.kiwanja.net/database/…/article_PC_World_mobiles_activism.pd. Retrieved on 19 April 2015.
Castells, Manuel. (2007). Communication, power and counter-power in the network society. International Journal of Communication 1(1): 29.
Charles-Iyoha, C. (2010). “Mobile telephony: Closing the gap”. In SMS Uprising Mobile Phone Activism in Africa, S. Ekine (ed.), Cape Town: Pambazuka Press, 116–123.
Chiumbu, S., and Musemwa, M. (eds.). (2012). Crisis! What Crisis? The Multiple Dimensions of the Zimbabwean Crisis. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
Dombo, Sylvester. (n.d.). Alternative or subversive? “Pirate radio stations” and the opening up of spaces of freedom and alternative politics in Zimbabwe, 2000–2010. Unpublished Manuscript, History Department, University of Zimbabwe.
Dzirutwe, M. (2006). Mobile phone boom eludes Zimbabwe. Reuters, 26 June 2006.
Ford, Tamara Villarreal, and Gil, Geneve. (2001). “Radical Internet Use”. In Radical Media: Rebellious Communication and Social Movements, John Downing (ed.), London: Sage Publications, 201–234.
Goldstein, J., and Rotich, J. (2010). “Digitally Networked Technology in Kenya’s 2007–08 Post-Election Crisis”. In SMS Uprising Mobile Phone Activism in Africa, S. Ekine (ed.), Cape Town: Pambazuka Press, pp. 124–137.
Habermas, Jürgen. (1989). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Hye won, K, Jong deok K. and Hae yun Lee (2009). A Study of the Public Sphere of Mobile Media.http://www.iasdr2009.or.kr/Papers/IASDR2009_Proceedings_abstract.pdf, retrieved 26 June 2014.
Laiton, C. (2014). Another Baba Jukwa arrest. Newsday, 26 June 2014.
“Madzibaba” in trouble for posing in police uniform on Facebook. The Herald, 6 June 2014.
Manganga, K. (2012). The Internet as public sphere: A Zimbabwean case study (19992008). Africa Development 37(1): 103–118.
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe. (2008). The Propaganda War on Electoral Democracy: Report on the Media’s Coverage of Zimbabwe’s 2008 Elections. Harare: Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe.
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe. (2009). The Language of Hate: Inflammatory, Intimidating and Abusive Comments of Zimbabwe’s 2008 Elections. Harare: Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe.
MISA-Zimbabwe. (2011). State of the media report.http://www.misa.org/downloads/2011/All_STID2011.pdf, retrieved 4 June 2014.
Moore, D. (2014). Zimbabwe’s democracy in the wake of the 2013 election: Contemporary and historical perspectives. Strategic Review for Southern Africa 36(1): 47–71.
Moyo, Dumisani. (2009). Citizen journalism and the parallel market of information in Zimbabwe’s 2008 election. Journalism Studies 10(4): 1–17.
Moyo, Dumisani. (2012). “Mediating Crisis: Realigning Media Policy and Deployment of Propaganda in Zimbabwe, 2000–2008”. In Crisis! What Crisis? The Multiple Dimensions of the Zimbabwean Crisis, S. Chiumbu and M. Musemwa (eds.), Cape Town: HSRC Press: pp. 176–198.
Moyo, Dumisani. (2013). Alternative media, diasporas and the mediation of the Zimbabwe crisis. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 28(1&2): 81–105.
Munangi, J. (2012). “‘A Zimbabwean Joke Is No Laughing Matter’: E-Humour and Versions of Subversion”. In Crisis! What Crisis? The Multiple Dimensions of the Zimbabwean Crisis, S. Chiumbu and M. Musemwa (eds.), Cape Town: HSRC Press, pp. 161–175.
Musila, G.A., and Moyo, D. (2012). “Subterranean Faultlines: Representations of Robert Mugabe in South African Press Cartoons”. In Crisis! What Crisis? The Multiple Dimensions of the Zimbabwean Crisis, S. Chiumbu and M. Musemwa (eds.), Cape Town: HSRC Press, pp. 199–224.
Okolo, M.S.C. (2009). Contesting the African Public Sphere: A Philosophical Reimaging of Power and Resistance in Ngugi’s “Wizard of the Crow”. Africa Development, 34(2): 59–80.
Outing, S. (2005). The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism. Poynter online.
Police claim Kudzayi is Baba Jukwa (See charge sheet copy). (2014) http://www.mews.co.zw/article/2231/Police%20claim%20Kudzayi%20is%20Baba%20Jukwa%20 (See%20charge%20sheet%20copy), retrieved 07 August 2015.
Raftopoulos, Brian. (2009). “The Crisis in Zimbabwe, 1998–2008”. In Becoming Zimbabwe: A History from the Pre-Colonial Period to 2008, B. Raftopoulos and A. Mlambo (eds.), Harare: Weaver Press, pp. 212–232.
Rheingold, H. (n.d.). Mobile Media and Political Collective Action. http://www.rheingold.com/texts/PoliticalSmartMobs.pdf. Retrieved on 19 April 2015.
Rhodes, T. (2009). In text-message reporting, opportunity and risk. Committee to Protect Journalists. http://cpj.org/2009/02/text-messaging-africa.php. Retrieved on 19 April 2015.
Zaba F. (2014). “Ministers face arrest over Baba Jukwa.” http://www.theindependent.co.zw/2014/06/27/ministers-face-arrest-baba-jukwa-saga/, retrieved 7 August 2015.
Zhangazha, T. (2014). Madzibaba Chacha, social media and Zim’s enthusiastic “Big Brother”. Nehanda Radio. http://nehandaradio.com/2014/06/17/madzibaba-chacha-social-media-zims-enthusiastic-big-brother/#sthash.jvjWK5EI.dpuf. Retrieved on 19 April 2015.
“Zimbabwe inflation spirals again.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7244769. stm, retrieved on 19 April 2015.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 Joseph Mujere and Wesley Mwatwara
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mujere, J., Mwatwara, W. (2016). Citizen Journalism and National Politics in Zimbabwe: The Case of the 2008 and 2013 Elections. In: Mutsvairo, B. (eds) Participatory Politics and Citizen Journalism in a Networked Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137554505_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137554505_14
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-56835-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55450-5
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)