Abstract
This thesis explores implications of the relationship between social media and national security in sub-Saharan Africa using post-2000 Zimbabwe as a case study. Specific focus is on how popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp guarantee citizen liberation and participation in digital public spheres, but at the same time threaten national sovereignty and Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) hegemony. The study also discusses the current social media regulatory framework in Zimbabwe and applies an eclectic theoretical framework that fuses media framing, agenda-setting theory, hegemony theory and Bakhtin’s Carnivalesque concept. The study is both qualitative and interpretive. Data were collected from 2019 to 2020 through semi-structured interviews that were conducted with purposively selected key informants that included public relations personnel from the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), and members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). In-depth interviews were also conducted with relevant government officials from the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, newspaper editors, and academics in media, politics and security at the University of Zimbabwe and the Midlands State University. In addition, conversations were also made with prominent digital social media activists in Zimbabwe. Findings demonstrate that the sovereignty of Zimbabwe and the hegemony of the media of ZANU PF is being eroded by counter-hegemonic public spheres such as social media platforms. Social media spaces are carnivalesque and liberating, hence they provide unfettered freedom to ordinary Zimbabweans as well as counter-hegemonic actors such as non-governmental organisations that accuse the government on its authoritarian style of leadership. Subalterns, and activists are speaking truth to power and striving to make leaders accountable. The situation has been complicated by the prevalence of multiple regimes of ‘truth’, fake news, conspiracy theories, misinformation, and disinformation cultures in Zimbabwe, as elsewhere. Such elements heavily compromise state security, institutional reputation, the hegemonic status of the ruling party, and national sovereignty. Despite the government blaming ordinary people and perceived enemies of the state for producing and circulating fake news, it is equally complicit in the same exercise. In essence, government organs and President Mnangagwa’s sympathisers commonly known as Varakashi constantly deploy cyber-propaganda, mudslinging, and fake news to counter narratives peddled by perceived internal and external enemies of the state. Owing to perceived threats from social media, laws such as the Cyber-Security and Data Protection Act (2021), Freedom of Information Act (2021) and Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act) have been enacted by the Zimbabwean state to regulate social media. However, controlling social media narratives remains a herculean task.