Challenges and Policy Advocacy Directions

Transcription

1 INTERNET USE FOR PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY IN ZIMBABWE: Possibilities, Challenges and Policy Advocacy Directions A Case Study Based Advocacy Paper February 2018 Zimbabwe Democracy Institute

2 Copyright Statement ZDI & MC, Copyright in this article is vested with ZDI & MC. No part of this report may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission, in writing, of the owner. It should be noted that the content and/or any opinions expressed in this publication are those of the ZDI & MC, and not necessarily of Counterpart International or USAID. Zimbabwe Democracy Institute 66 Jason Moyo Avenue, 2 nd Floor Bothwell House Harare Zimbabwe zditrustinfo@gmail.com Media Centre 66 Jason Moyo Avenue, 2 nd Floor Bothwell House Harare Zimbabwe Acknowledgements ZDI & MC acknowledge the support given by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Counterpart International in making this study possible through. This contribution is highly appreciated and thanked. Our gratitude is also extended to all key-informants of this study. Although they cannot be acknowledged one by one here, it is our hope that mentioning them here will go a long way in showing our thankfulness to them for sacrificing their careers, time and energy talking to us. We also thank the efforts of the ZDI & MC board members and research team for working tirelessly to make the production of this report a possibility. ii P a g e

3 Contents Copyright Statement... ii Acknowledgements... ii MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS INTRODUCTION... 3 Political Context... 3 Research Objectives RESEARCH STRATEGY RESEARCH FINDINGS Extent of Online Presence among Democracy & Human Rights Entities in Zimbabwe Extent of Online Human Rights &Democracy Promotion in Zimbabwe Extent of Civic Education Online Online Impact Capacity of Entities Promoting Human Rights & Democracy in Zimbabwe CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusion Recommendations Government Civic Society Political Parties BIBLIOGRAPHY iii P a g e

4 MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS This study, having been done in partial contribution to ZDI and Media Centre investigation into the state of internet governance in Zimbabwe and its implications on the promotion of democracy and human rights, it examines: (i) background political challenges to internet use for promoting human rights and democracy; (ii) the extent of internet use for promoting democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe by key democracy promotion institutions and actors and; (iii) a strategy for internet use in monitoring and promoting human rights, citizen agency and accountability given the prevailing politico-economic context in Zimbabwe. It is our belief that internet-culture 1 among societies and government institutions govern internet use and its effectiveness in promoting human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe. The intention was to identify the internet-culture in Zimbabwe, strengths and weaknesses that can be considered in planning an internet-centered activism ahead of 2018 elections and thereafter. In brief, the main findings of the study are that: Legislation and regulations governing internet freedom remain very stringent and inhibitive for democracy and human rights promoting institutions to have greater impact in Zimbabwe and there is a likelihood of further clampdown in the near future. It inhibits participatory internetculture. Access to information, free expression and protest online remain stifled by legislation that ultra-vires the constitution of the land. Government has not done anything to repeal or amend such legislation to ensure they do not stifle freedoms provided for in the constitution. It also reveals that, economic decline has intensified inaccessibility of internet to the larger cross-section of the population particularly in rural areas and this has further lessened the influence and impact of democracy and human rights promoting institutions who would have utilized the internet in civic education, mobilization and monitoring. Despite above prohibitive political context, the study revealed that there is a parochial internetculture typified by a serious online absence 1 By internet culture this study refers to popular practices, beliefs and consumption of internet among selected key internet freedom stakeholders that shape the extent of internet use in promoting enjoyment of human rights and democracy online and offline. It is conceptualized by extension and revision of Almond and Verba (1963) study, there are three basic types of political culture which ranges from parochial (black-out and noconnection), subject (connected but passive) and participant (connected and actively involved) internet-culture. among key government institutions such as the ZHRC and the ZACC among others which are expected to lead by example in utilizing the internet to promote human rights and democracy. There is however a fair participatory internet culture typified by fair online presence of and political parties which has albeit not led to fair human rights, accountability and rule of law activity online. Generally, there is insufficient civic education online and limited impact capacity among institutions expected to be at the forefront of internet use for promoting human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe. Discussion on the causes of this below expectation online performance by human rights and democracy promoting entities revealed that: (i) there is no sufficient (if any) institutional funding earmarked for promoting online activism, monitoring and reporting among these institutions, thus no human resources are recruited for the sole purpose of covering human rights activism, accountability and rule of law monitoring online; (ii) there is serious selfcensorship online caused by repressive state legislation, police harassments and institutional treats resulting in de-escalating civic activity online and; (iii) shortage of human resource skills, equipment and will to promote civic activism, human rights, accountability and rule of law monitoring online for these institutions. There is need for an increase in the state of online presence of the ZHRC and ZACC because this will: (i) increase public awareness of institutional remedies in cases of human rights violations and corruption particularly in remote areas of Zimbabwe where human rights and abuse of public office concerns of victims hardly make it to mainstream media; (ii) improve accessibility, effectiveness and access to information about human rights violations and corruption as victims from remote areas across the country can be able to personally interact with commissioners online; (iii) improve citizens participation in monitoring human rights and corruption and engaging government agencies and duty-bearers directly on issues affecting their constitutional rights and; (iv) enhance the effectiveness of ZHRC s and ZACC as their communication, civic education material and condemnation statements will be assured of reaching a wider cross-section of the population. Accessibility and utility challenges faced by and other key actors online have given political parties and actors especially the ruling 1 P a g e

5 ZANU-PF a leeway to compromise human rights, accountability and rule of law demands in the following ways: (i) it gives them more capacity to mobilize and perpetrate human rights violations without being met with counter efforts from ; (ii) it empowers them to sabotage civic activism aimed at promoting human rights online through giving counter activism that discourages and tweaks citizens attention to pertinent human rights and accountability issues and; (iii) it emboldens their efforts in spreading propaganda and misinformation in defense of corrupt public officials. The study also revealed that there is however following enabling circumstances that ought to motivate and relevant institutions to demand internet freedom and do more civic education work online since these circumstances give them assured impact. These are: (i) above 70% of the population are youth in need of civic education; (ii) about 5.2 million people in Zimbabwe are on Whatsapp; (iii) above 50% social media users are youths; (iv) above 50% of rural-to-urban migration is comprised by youths, thus they have access to internet; (v) above 50% eligible voters are youth, they can change electoral outcomes if influenced and educated to support democracy; (vi) youth are the most used social strata in perpetrating human rights violations and; (vii) internet access through mobile telephony has spread throughout the country, rural citizens who comprise above 70% of the population and have been left behind during previous civic education activities are now reachable for civic education through WhatsApp groups and networks. 2 P a g e

6 1. INTRODUCTION Following a military assisted overthrow of former President Robert Mugabe s government, democracy and human rights promoting institutions have been optimistic about a better future for human rights and democracy realized through the incumbent regime s reforms. However, this optimism has started warning as nothing significant on the internet freedom front has been done by the regime since its ascent to power in November Rather, it has intensified militarization of key state institutions, ignored calls for reform or repealing of media laws that stifle internet freedoms and shown no intention to do so before 2018 elections. This entails that those elections and lives of Zimbabweans thereafter are prone to face heinous human rights violations and accountability challenges that go unreported. Thus, it is germane to device alternative strategies to enhance citizen participation in monitoring and reporting on human rights and democracy issues despite the regime s unwillingness to free the internet space. But, before doing this, it is pertinent to first assess the internetculture and the extent of internet use for democracy and human rights promotion by key state and nonstate actors responsible for promoting democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe and devise a strategy for enhancing their efforts deriving from gaps and strengths identified by research. Political Context Internet access and use provide the basis for active participation in human rights governance and democratization process in any given country. The internet, therefore, adds value to freedom of opinion and expression as it amplifies the voice and multiplies the information within reach of everyone who possesses unlimited access to it. In Zimbabwe, like elsewhere, the use of and access to internet is a leading prerequisite for the enjoyment of freedom of expression and access to information central to the promotion of human rights and democracy (Gadzikwa, 2015). 2 In fact, freedom of expression and access to information is necessary if citizens sense of belonging is to be felt. Access to internet and its usage in Zimbabwe provides an alternative space and set of communication tools which give the opportunity to citizens to exercise their citizen rights as enshrined in the supreme law of the land. In 2012, the African Union to which Zimbabwe is a member state adopted an Open Access approach which allows for all African member states to have equal access to ICT platforms (Murambadoro, 2015). 3 Since the launch of an Open Access approach, allowing all African countries to have access to ICT platforms across all African countries including Zimbabwe, there has been harmonization of ICT policies within Sub-Saharan Africa. However, access to internet and its usage for human rights and democracy promotion activities in Zimbabwe is constantly under threat as evidenced by the recent introduction of cyber security element under the Ministry of Information Communication Technology and Cyber Security whose intention is suspected to be to curtail freedom online and to push for the enactment and implementation of the draconian Computer Crimes and Cyber Crimes Bill. Following these developments, on the 14 th of December 2017, the Zimbabwe Internet Governance Forum (ZIGF) hosted a meeting aimed at addressing questions relating to social media, cyber security, the data economy and sustainable development, human rights on the internet as well as the influence digitalization of our economy, the media landscape and the political system. The significance of internet in various aspects of life including human rights and democracy promotion were emphasized. 4 In Zimbabwe, access to internet is relatively high particularly the use of social media. According to POTRAZ, Abridged Postal & Telecommunications Sector Performance First Quarter Report of 2017, mobile internet data usage increased by 4.7% to record 2,688,410GB from 2,567,401GB recorded in the last quarter report of During the period, social movements particularly #ThisFlag and #Tajamuka and citizens were engaging on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp to organize various protests for instance the #MugabeMustFall against former President Mugabe s government. Therefore, such an increase in data usage may have been attributed to the fact that various people across the country were at that moment using the internet for the purposes of 2 See Gadzikwa, J. (2015). Interactivity and Cyber democracy: The case of Zimbabwe s Online Newspapers. Available at 3 See Murambadoro, R et al (2015) ICTs and Human Rights In Africa. Policy Brief No.1/2015. Available at: 4 NewsDay (14 December 2017) Available at: 3 P a g e

7 getting updates pertaining to the protests that were initiated online by social movement groups. Thus the internet has been in use as an instrument for promoting grassroots democracy by airing local issues, providing an alternative source of information to official channels, thus reflecting human rights and democracy promotion in the country. Social movement protests against former president Robert Mugabe s government were purely organized through social media. For instance, on the 6 th of July 2016, Evan Mawarire s #ThisFlag movement resulted in national boycott by workers which almost shutdown government, citizens stayed at home with banks and shops across all towns and cities closed. The event drew the attention of the whole world. Such mass protests against Mugabe were mainly spearheaded by the social media particularly Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp to demand government transparency and accountability, thereby standing against corruption, poverty and injustice. This clearly shows that social media is playing a central role in shaping the political processes in Zimbabwe. Consequently, freedom of speech courtesy of internet access and use by social movements is enjoyed though facing state sabotage as shown in the government s reaction through an unprecedented social media blackout that occurred on the morning of July 6, 2016, the same day when Zimbabwe experienced a stay away, a non-violent form of protest against the economic and political situation currently prevailing in the country. During such a social media blackout, subscribers to key mobile telephony service providers such as: Telecel, NetOne, ZOL, TelOne ADSL and Econet could not access their WhatsApp accounts. They were denied their constitutional right to access information particularly on the internet by this blackout. In the context of the described background, this study sought to examine the extent to which entities and agencies responsible for promoting human rights and democracy have adopted internet (social media) use for the purpose of promoting democracy in Zimbabwe. The aim was to identify strengths and gaps in internet reliance for promoting democracy and human rights across the country so as to use such to inform strategic planning and activity implementation for maximum impact and effectiveness. Thus, key players in the struggle for democracy and respect for human rights were identified among government institutions, civil society, media fraternity, political parties and social movements and an internet use for human rights and democracy promotion conceptual framework was created and used as an assessment tool as presented here below. Research Objectives This research-based advocacy paper is a continuation of the ZDI-Media Centre research project on the nature of internet freedom and use to promote human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe whose first publication that examined the nature of internet governance framework in Zimbabwe was published on the 30 th of November In this series, ZDI and Media Centre examined: (i) background political challenges to internet use for promoting human rights and democracy; (ii) the extent of internet use for promoting democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe by key democracy promotion institutions and actors in Zimbabwe given the prevailing political context (internet culture) 6 and; (iii) a strategy for internet use in monitoring and promoting human rights, citizen agency and accountability in Zimbabwe under the existent political context. The intention was to identify the internet culture, strengths and weaknesses that can be considered in planning an internet-centered activism ahead of 2018 elections and thereafter. The end is to ensure that all pro-democracy and human rights promoting institutions are: (a) encouraged and motivated through research to adopt a participatory internet culture, use the internet in their activities and; (b) given a clear roadmap through empirical recommendations to enhance their effectiveness in tackling human rights and democratization tasks in Zimbabwe using the internet. 5 NB: For a full copy of the paper, visit ZDI offices and get a hard copy for free or request a copy by ing zditrust@gmail.com or simply visit: om_1712.pdf. 6 By democracy promoting entities this study deliberately uses this term to refer to those Zimbabwean state and non-state institutions whose mandate or raison d'etre, as stipulated in their statutes, is to promote human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe. 4 P a g e

8 2. RESEARCH STRATEGY The study conducted a quantitative data analysis of internet use and reliance by purposively sampled key democracy promoting actors in Zimbabwe. Focus group discussions where then used as a follow up study to unpack ways through which limitations identified through quantitative analyses can be dealt with and solicit input on key strategies that can be used to create an internet based approach to monitoring, documenting and reporting on human rights and democracy issues towards a sustainable transition to a democratic dispensation in Zimbabwe. As demonstrated in figure 1.1 below, objects of the study (democracy promoting actors) were first stratified into following strata to ease analysis: civic society, government institutions, media and political parties. Figure1: Stratification of the Sample Govt Institutions (Democracy & Human rights) Political Parties Table 1: Classification of Sampled Entities according to Operational Capacity Stratum Mediaspecific (Human Rights and Democracy) Government Institutions Political Parties Source: Data Analysis Capacity Rankings (largest to least) Name of sampled Entities 2 nd MAZ 8 1 st MISA 9 1 st AIZ 4 th HZT 3 rd ZLHR 2 nd ZHRNGOF 5 th NERA 10 1 st Zim Parliament 2 nd ZHRC 11 1 st ZANU-PF 12 2 nd MDC-T 3 rd MDC-N 13 To evaluate the extent of internet use for promoting democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe by key democracy promotion institutions and actors in Zimbabwe, the following framework of analysis was used to evaluate the extent of internet use to promote human rights and democracy. Media-specific Source: Data Analysis. Under each stratum, entities ranked as first, second, third largest and so on 7 in that strata were purposefully sampled and examined. Thus, a total of 12 key democracy promoting institutions in Zimbabwe were examined to come out with the findings of this study. 7 This was done through comparing prominence, visibility and output of each entity as far as promoting democracy and/or human rights is concerned. 8 Twitter, Facebook, Website and 9 Twitter (@misazimbabwe), Facebook (MISA Zimbabwe), Website ( & (misa@misazim.co.zw) 10 Twitter and Facebook 11 Website,YouTube 12 ZANU-PF is available on facebook, tweeter, google+, LinkedIn, Zanu- PF website and YouTube. However, they are most active on the website, facebook and tweeter. 13 MDC Ncube uses facebook, tweeter, a website, instagram, YouTube and Whatsapp 5 P a g e

9 Stratums of the Sample Table2: Conceptual Framework for Analyzing the Extent of Internet Use for Promoting Human Rights and Democracy Indicator(s) Extent of HR& Democracy promotion online 14 [1] Online presence 15 Number of online media platforms used [2] Activity & visibility online 16 [3] Online civic education & awareness 17 [4] Extent of online Outreach 18 Number of HR, Accountability & rule of law monitoring posts per month Number of online HR, accountability & rule of law awareness publication per month Number of followers 14 It should be noted that democracy is not limited to accountability and rule of law but this study liberally chose these two basic tenets of democracy for to ensure practicability of the study given the resources at hand and the time factor. It is our belief that with these two, democracy is represented because without them, democracy can neither be expected nor imagined. 15 This includes social media, online blogs, WebPages whose purpose includes advocacy and information sharing from January 2017-December This indicator seeks to measure the extent of internet uptake by democracy and human rights promoting entities. More online platforms run by a sampled entity mean a greater degree of online presence. 16 This indicator sought to ascertain the extent to which democracy and human rights institutions use their online presence to promote democracy and human rights. Thus, the frequency of institutional posts and updates that relate to Human rights, accountability and rule of law monitoring and promotion online is measured by counting daily posts for the year ending December 2017 and given as a monthly average. A single post posted in various media sites of an institution is counted as a single post. 17 All online human rights and democracy publications for the year 2017 are counted and the number is given as a monthly average. 18 To come up with the number of followers, the study deliberately selected one online site of a particular institution with the largest number of followers and used it. This meant to prevent double counting of followers who appear in multiple online media sites of the same institution. 3. RESEARCH FINDINGS 1. Extent of Online Presence among Democracy & Human Rights Entities in Zimbabwe Generally, the study found that democracy promoting entities have a have a satisfactory score in terms of their online presence. 19 All leading democracy and human rights promoting entities in the civic society, media fraternity, government and political parties have adopted internet platforms for visibility and wide-reach purposes. 20 Figure 1.2 below presents this in a graphic analysis. Figure 2: Extent of Online Presence Govt Institutions Political Parties (Human 4th rights& 3rd Media-specific 2nd 1st Number of online platforms per entity within a strata of the sample Source: Data Analysis. 5th However, government institutions mandated to promote human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe (particularly ZHRC) seem to be legging behind in terms of online presence. This goes contrary to expectations, these institutions ought to be more online than shown if their impact is to be felt across sectors in Zimbabwe. Four points were given by discussants buttressing their calls for an increase in the state of online 19 A score grid with 4 categories was used. Categories were as follows: (i) None existent; (ii) poor (1 online site); (iii) better (2-3 online sites); (iv) Satisfactory (4 and above sites online). 20 Focus Group Discussions, December P a g e

10 presence of the ZHRC and ZACC. It was argued that internet uptake: (i) increases public awareness of institutional remedies in cases of human rights violations and corruption particularly in remote areas of Zimbabwe where concerns of victims on human rights and public office abuses hardly make it to mainstream media; (ii) improves accessibility, effectiveness and access to information about human rights violations and corruption as victims from remote areas across the country can be able to personally interact with commissioners online; (iii) improves citizens participation in monitoring human rights and corruption and engaging government agencies and duty-bearers directly on issues affecting their constitutional rights and; (iv) enhances the effectiveness of ZHRC and ZACC as their communication, civic education material and condemnation statements will be assured of reaching a wider cross-section of the population. 21 In this regard, it is strongly advisable that state commissions responsible for building and consolidating democracy and human rights should lead by example in taking advantage of availed internet opportunities and spaces. From our analysis, it emerged that political parties show to be doing much better than and government institution in increasing their online presence. This entails that, at the moment, political parties can have wider reach to Zimbabweans when utilized to promote democracy and human rights than and GIs. It was also revealed that political parties have Whatsapp groups for their cell members, ward coordinators, district coordinators, constituency coordinators and national coordinators. 22 This gives them the ability to have greater influence in Zimbabwe and better effectiveness if utilized to monitor human rights and accountability. However, after debating the impacts this has on human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe, it emerged that, three challenges have been associated with this better online presence of political parties particularly the ruling ZANU-PF. Those challenges are that: (i) it gives them more capacity to mobilize and perpetrate human rights 21 Focus Group discussions, December Focus Group Discussions, December violations without being met with counter efforts from ; (ii) it empowers them to sabotage civic activism aimed at promoting human rights online through giving counter activism that discourages and tweaks citizens attention to pertinent human rights and accountability issues and; (iii) it emboldens their efforts in spreading propaganda and misinformation in defense of corrupt public officials. 23 Thus, as argued by key informants, it should be noted that online presence cannot be construed to online activity to promote human rights and democracy. Different entities go online for various purposes. Although, the more the presence of an entity online, the better is its visibility among online citizens. The same applies to its capacity to promote human rights violations, corruption and passive political culture among citizens. So, the findings of this study indicate that, although are many and visible online, political parties are more visible and have to work hard to reach the visibility rankings of political parties and be able to neutralize counter democracy content and influence spread by some political parties online particularly by pressuring political parties to serve as agents for democracy too Extent of Online Human Rights &Democracy Promotion in Zimbabwe Considering the fact that online presence of an entity cannot be misconstrued to online human rights and democracy promotion, this study analyzed daily posts that have to do with monitoring, reporting and promoting human rights and democracy (accountability and rule of law) posted by sampled entities in their identified online platforms in year 2017as figure 3 below presents. 23 Focus Group Discussions, December It was revealed that Zanu-PF has deployed its internet activists used to attack human rights activists, de-campaign human rights work online and oppose any message that contradicts vested interests of President Emerson Mnangagwa s administration. 24 Focus Group Discussions, December P a g e

11 Figure 3: Average Human Rights and Democracy Promotion Content Posted Per month in Mediaspecific Source: Research Data 25 (Human rights& Democracy ) Political Parties Govt Institutions 1st nd rd th 42 5th 162 In cognizance of above data, it can be stated that among institutions expected to promote democracy and human rights through online platforms, were the most active with around three posts perday in This also dovetails with our previous observation that political parties are indeed more present online but their intention for that presence is not primarily to promote human rights, accountability and the rule of law but to seek support from the masses by any means convenient to them. Within the sampled CSO strata, media specific and social movements were discovered to be the most active in promoting human rights, rule of law and accountability online with monthly posts ranging from on these issues. This might be due to the fact that, media organizations and social movements have been leading in entering social media for publicity and recruitment purposes. What this entails is that, these organizations should be relied upon in influencing and encouraging other institutions to intensify internet use for promoting human rights and democracy through convening multi-stakeholder conferences, press conferences and learning symposium aimed at inducing internet uptake. However, three to four posts per day(as the monthly average shows) are not enough for institutions committed to the cause of increasing transparency about human rights, rule of law and democracy in the whole of Zimbabwe. Worse, political parties and government institutions had insignificant posts on these issues ranging from 0-6 per month in What this entails is that, internet use for promoting democracy and human rights is still limited in Zimbabwe. Discussion on the causes of this below expectation online performance by human rights and democracy promoting entities revealed that: (i) there is no sufficient (if any) institutional funding earmarked for promoting online activism, monitoring and reporting among these institutions, thus no human resources are recruited for the sole purpose of covering human rights activism, accountability and rule of law monitoring online; (ii) there is serious selfcensorship online caused by repressive state legislation, police harassments and institutional treats resulting in de-escalating civic activity online and; (iii) shortage of human resource skills, equipment and will to promote civic activism, human rights, accountability and rule of law monitoring online for these institutions. 26 Thus, there is need to sensitize, encourage and promote internet uptake, reliance and awareness among key players in Zimbabwe. If political parties are targeted, trained and reformed, human rights and democracy monitoring and promotion will be increased given their greater online presence, number of online followers and social media webs that net across the country. 25 Based on social media and website posts 26 Focus Group discussions, December P a g e

12 Number of online human rights, rule of law and Accountability civic education publications per month 3. Extent of Civic Education Online To ensure sustainability and deepened human rights and democracy in a nation-state, civic education on these is pivotal. It saws seeds of sustained transition to a democratic dispensation by imparting civic agency skills, enthusiasm, knowledge and culture among masses. The internet and social media have created a situation where mobilizing and reaching large numbers of citizens for civic education purposes has been made possible, convenient and instant. Thus, entities committed to promotion of democracy and human rights should do so through civic education and the internet has provided a platform through which citizens can be easily mobilized and educated through online print or video civic education publications. This study researched civic education videos and publications posted in online platforms of sampled entities so as to determine the extent to which these entities have actually utilized the opportunity presented by massive followers on social media to conduct civic education. Below is an examination of the extent of online civic education activities among sampled democracy promoting entities in Zimbabwe. It was revealed that the majority of sampled entities are not doing much to promote civic education online, 27 content found ranges from 0-6 publications per month. This is so notwithstanding the following enabling circumstances that ought to motivate these institutions to do more civic education work online with assured impact. These are that: (i) above 70% of the population are youth in need of civic education; 28 (ii) above 50% internet (social media) users are youths; 29 (iii) above 50% of rural-to-urban migration is comprised by youths 30, thus they have access to internet; (iv) above 50% eligible voters are youth 31, they can change electoral outcomes if influenced and educated to support democracy; (v) youth are the most used social strata in perpetrating human rights violations; 32 (vi) internet access through mobile telephony has spread throughout the country 33, rural citizens who comprise above 70% of the population and have been left behind during previous civic education activities are now reachable for civic education through WhatsApp groups and networks. Thus, there is much yet to be done to encourage civic education publications online by democracy and human rights promoting entities in Zimbabwe to enhance respect and monitoring of the same. Figure 4: Extent of online civic education in Mediaspecific Source: Data analysis (Human rights& Democr acy) Political Parties Govt Instituti ons 1st nd rd 4 2 4th 2 5th 6 Sampled HR&Democracy Institutions 4. Online Impact Capacity of Entities Promoting Human Rights & Democracy in Zimbabwe However, no matter how visible, publishing and active an entity might be online; its impact cannot 27 Focus Group Discussions, December Research and Advocacy Unit Framing the debate: youth voter registration in Zimbabwe in preparation for 2018 elections. Available Online at: %20debate%20Youth%20voter%20registration%20in%20Zimba bwe%20-%20opinion%20piece%201_17%20final.pdf 29 Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) Abridged Postal and Telecommunications Sector 3 rd Report, Available Online at: pdf 30 News Day Zimbabwe. 01/07/2014. Stemming Zimbabwe s Urban Influx. Available at: [Accessed 19/02/2018]. 31 See note 1 32 Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Elections report, Available Online at: 33 See note 2. 9 P a g e

13 Number of online followers be assured if it has a limited audience or followers who serve as direct recipients and certain consumers of its human rights and democracy content outputs. Increasing online impact capacity is therefore vital. To determine online impact capacity, the study assessed the number of citizens (followers) that each entity can instantly and directly engage and reach when disbursing and seeking information on human rights, rule of law and accountability online. Following is a graphic presentation of this analysis. Figure 5: Extent of Online Impact Capacity among Sampled Entities Mediaspecific Source: Data Analysis (Human rights& Democr acy) Political Parties These figures indicate that political parties have large numbers of online followers compared to and GIs. It follows that their activities and initiatives have a wider outreach and citizen engagement. It should be noted that sampled reach less than 1% of the population estimate in Zimbabwe notwithstanding the fact that most of them share same followers. Among key causes of this dismal outreach was lack of human and financial resources to assist in scaling up internet activities Focus Group Discussions with, January Govt Instituti ons 1st nd rd th th Sampled HR&Democracy Institutions 4. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusion This study concludes that internet use and reliance for promoting democracy and human rights remains limited in Zimbabwe. The political and legal environment is to as greater extent the key factor inhibiting the extent of human rights and democracy promotion online. Civic organizations have shown serious self-censorship online in fear of usual repressive consequences. The government has key institutions earmarked for promoting and consolidating democracy and human rights such as the ZHRC, ZACC and Parliament of Zimbabwe but they have an insignificant extent of online presence, activity, civic education and impact capacity. This needs to be changed if human rights are to be deepened and democracy promoted. The poor economic situation in Zimbabwe has also contributed to poor internet access by a large crosssection of unemployed, poor and marginalized people of Zimbabwe. Political parties, particularly the ruling party ZANU-PF have been instrumental in discouraging civic activism, demonizing human rights efforts and protecting corrupt officials from accountability demands online. There is need to increase activism against such vices. Recommendations Government It should repeal or amend unconstitutional legislation like AIPPA, POSA, BSA, and revise the Cyber Crimes bill to ensure conformity with the constitution and international standards on human rights and internet freedoms. It should ensure that institutions mandated to promote human rights; accountability and the rule of law such as the ZACC and the ZHRC, ZMC are present, accessible and interactive online. There is need for serious policy emphasis on internet use, internet freedom to access government information and transparency. It should be open and available for engagement forums with, citizens and academics to enable information sharing, skills sharing and interactive problem solving. 10 P a g e

14 It should liaise with NGOs and the private sector in increasing internet access to, and promoting internet use in remote and marginalized communities of Zimbabwe. It should punish and discourage sabotage activities of political actors that counter efforts to promote human rights, accountability and rule of law online. Civic Society It should increase pressure on government to revise and reform legislation to free the internet and civic activities therein. Should widely name, expose and shame law enforcers that compromise internet freedoms in Zimbabwe. It should increase pressure and lobbying for the revision of the Cyber Crime Bill so that when it gets to enactment stage; it will be in conformity with the provisions of the constitution and international human rights standards. It should promote and conduct activism on internet use in monitoring, reporting and challenging human rights abuses, accountability and rule of law violations. It should increase civic education online and create internet based networks that stretch to rural areas and marginalized social groups such as youth, women and people with disabilities with the intention of encouraging internet use for demanding and monitoring accountability, human rights monitoring and citizengovernment dialoguing. Should increase its online impact capacity by conducting cross-country outreach programs focusing on civic education, recruitment of citizen journalists and whistleblowers and encouraging locally coordinated networks on social media for the purpose of monitoring and reporting human rights, accountability and rule of law situations across Zimbabwe. It should conduct civic activism against online sabotage activities done by certain political parties to suppress citizen agency, citizen participation in naming and shaming corruption and human rights violations done by dutybearers in their communities. Should pressure political parties and players to use their internet networks and social media groups across the country to facilitate civic education, human rights and accountability monitoring and reporting. Political Parties They should capitalize on their strong online presence to increase human rights, accountability and rule of law demands, monitoring and reporting. They should coalesce to increase pressure for internet freedom reforms in the legal and political system of Zimbabwe. They should support and promote citizengovernment engagement online taking advantage of their country-wide social media groups that stretch from village cell level, district, and province and national level to initiate intraparty dialogues online. The spillovers from these intra-party internet access, use and promotion dialogues will increase internet use in the country as a whole. They should desist from counter democracy activities and cultivate connections, engagements and cooperation with in promoting civic education online. 11 P a g e

15 BIBLIOGRAPHY Gadzikwa, J Interactivity and Cyber democracy: The case of Zimbabwe s Online Newspapers. Available at le-full-text-pdf/933970b Murambadoro, R et al ICTs and Human Rights In Africa. Policy Brief No.1/2015. Available at: content/uploads/2015/08/govinn-policy-brief pdf Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe Abridged Postal and Telecommunications Sector Performance Report 3 rd Quarter Report. [Online]. Available at: _Quarter_2017.pdf. [Accessed: 19/02/2018] Research and Advocacy Unit Framing the debate: youth voter registration in Zimbabwe in preparation for 2018 elections. [Online].Available at: Framing%20the%20debate%20Youth%20voter%20 registration%20in%20zimbabwe%20- %20Opinion%20piece%201_17%20final.pdf. [Accessed: 19/02/2018]. Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Political Violence Report [Online]. Available at: [Accessed: 19/02/18]. 12 P a g e