Abstract
This article examines the emergence of activist teachers' leadership in Zimbabwe in 2020 under the #TeachersCan'tBreatheMovement (#TCBM), which mobilized through WhatsApp to demand salary increases during the restrictive COVID-19 lockdown. Despite state repression, economic instability, and hesitancy from union leadership, the #TCBM successfully organized a strike, demonstrating WhatsApp's role as a key tool for coordination, mobilization, and education. Drawing on Darlington's (2002) framework on activist leadership and rank-and-file mobilization, the study highlights how activist leaders framed grievances, fostered solidarity, and legitimized collective action. Unlike prior Zimbabwean social media movements led by well-known activists, such as Evan Mawarire's #ThisFlag and Promise Mkhwananzi's #Tajamuka/Sesjikile, the #TCBM was a grassroots initiative driven by rank-and-file teachers. The analysis is based on qualitative data, including in-depth interviews with key participants in the movement. This study contributes to scholarship on social media labour activism by examining how workers leverage WhatsApp for collective organizing under authoritarian conditions, building on cases such as the 2018 Brazilian truck drivers' strike. It also contextualizes the economic crisis, illustrating how teachers' salaries eroded by nearly 90%, necessitating urgent collective action. Finally, the study explores the #TCBM's transformation into the Educators Union of Zimbabwe (EUZ), demonstrating how social media tools facilitate labour organizing beyond traditional union structures. These findings underscore WhatsApp's broader potential as a mobilization tool in repressive contexts.