Abstract
This article constitutes an examination on how citizen journalism has challenged Robert
Mugabe’s authoritarian regime on issues pertaining to national heroes and usages of the
Heroes Acre as central national identity markers. Under Mugabe’s ZANU‐PF, Zimbabwe
has seen the public being limited from directly participating in salient national debates.
ZANU‐PF’s control of the official public sphere has also constrained alternative views
from ventilating the government‐controlled communicative spaces. The party’s narrative
on heroes, the Heroes Acre and national identity has gained a taken‐for‐granted status in
the public media. This has obtained against the backdrop of what has become known as
the Zimbabwe crises, characterised by a declining economy, a constricted political space,
a breakdown in the rule of law, and the subsequent flight of a number of Zimbabweans
into the diaspora. The accompanying wave of technological advancements and the
mushrooming of mostly diaspora‐based online media have opened up new vistas of
communication, enabling a hitherto ‘silenced’ community of ordinary people to
participate in national conversations. The conclusion reached here, is that citizen
journalism has not only enhanced the culture of conversation among people (as espoused
under democratic conditions) but has also covered up the democratic deficit experienced
in the public sphere, mediated by traditional media, parliament and pavement radio.