Zimbabwe:
You Can Rig an Election but not an Erection

Posted by Ndesanjo Macha, Global Voices
In countries such as Zimbabwe where media freedom is extremely restricted, new technologies have become
powerful tools for political campaigning, communication, advocacy and
mobilisation.
Since Robert Mugabe turned the country into a dictatorship, bloggers and
civic organisations have resorted to using new tools and applications such as
blogs, Flickr, Facebook, SMS, YouTube and mashups to fight for democracy, media
freedom and good governance.
SMS
If you are in Zimbabwe
and your phone rings, you might be receiving news headline from SW Radio, election update from
Kubatana.net or a political joke about Robert Mugabe. Widespread mobile phone
access in Africa has made SMS a powerful and
useful tool for activists.
Zimbabweans are using SMS to send each other political jokes. Comrade Fatso writes about
this particular use of SMS:
Anyone know someone with a truck? There's a guy wanting to move all his
stuff from State House to Zvimba. The jokes spread as text messages refer to
our aged dictator relocating to his rural home. People really do believe this
is a general election - because our generals decide who gets elected. Another
joke walking the streets of Harare
is that the only difference between an election and an erection is that you
can't rig the latter.
The UK-based SW Radio uses SMS
to send news headlines to mobile phones:
We now have an SMS news headline service sent to mobile phones.
If you have a friend or relative in Zimbabwe who would like to receive
this service please email their mobile phone number to: talk@swradioafrica.com
Robert Mugabe is twittering! He
joins the Kenyan President, Mwai Kibaki,
on the popular microblogging site, Twitter:
meetings, meetings, meetings. very boring. 12:03 PM April 04, 2008 from web
Ooooo, nervous morning. Sending the wife shopping. She is getting on my nerves.
Thinking of shutting the electricity down for laughs. 09:21 AM April 01, 2008
from web
Thinking of live blogging the election results. Good idea? 06:42 PM March 31,
2008 from web
Forcing people to eat election posters. Hey, at least they get fed this week.
:) 01:49 PM March 29, 2008 from web
just voted. Guess who I voted for? 01:49 PM March 29, 2008 from web
Zimbabwe Democracy Now has a Zimbabwe Humour page on its website:
A selection of cartoons, movie posters and e-cards about Zimbabwe. These images are
presented in the belief that the designers want to reach a wider audience.
Thanks to everyone who contributed, you know who you are…