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Journal of Eastern African Studies Volume 16, 2022 - Issue 2
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Articles

Twitter and political discourses: how supporters of Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU PF party use Twitter for political engagement

Bhekizulu Bethaphi Tshumaa Department of Communication Science, University of Free State, Bloemfontein, South AfricaCorrespondence[email protected]
,
Lungile Augustine Tshumab Department of Communication and Media, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, South Africa
&
Mphathisi Ndlovuc Department of Journalism, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Pages 269-288 | Received 19 Oct 2020, Accepted 04 May 2022, Published online: 23 May 2022
 
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ABSTRACT

Social networks such as Twitter are transforming political engagements in contemporary societies. Dominant literature places emphasis on the counter-hegemonic opportunities offered by social media in the Zimbabwean political landscape. However, there is a need to draw scholarly attention to how supporters of the ruling party, Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU PF), are appropriating and using Twitter for political engagements. Drawing upon the case of Varakashi (ZANU PF’s social media trolls and supporters), this paper examines how supporters of the ruling party in the post-Robert Mugabe era are increasingly occupying online spaces that were traditionally associated with opposition voices. President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime has been grappling with legitimacy issues in the wake of the November 2017 coup that toppled Mugabe, the contested July 2018 election, and the shooting of civilians in August 2018. Focusing on four Twitter handles of Varakashi, this article employs rhetorical argumentation to analyse how these Twitter propagandists are defending and promoting the interests of the Mnangagwa regime. Findings demonstrate that the Varakashi are sanitising and justifying the November 2017 coup, campaigning for Mnangagwa in the July 2018 election, and in justifying the killing of civilians in August 2018.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Tierney, “Disentangling Public Space”, 82.

2 Wasserman, “Mobile Phones”, 148.

3 Mare, “A Complicated But Symbiotic Affair”.

4 Moyo, “Citizen Journalism”.

5 Ndlovu, “Speaking for the Dead”; Mpofu, “When the Subaltern Speaks”.

6 Moyo, “Citizen Journalism”; Ndlovu, “Speaking for the Dead”.

8 Moyo, “Social Media, Civil Resistance”, 15.

9 Ibid.

10 Chibuwe, “Social Media and Elections in Zimbabwe”, 7.

11 Moyo Dumisani, “A Vicious Online Propaganda War that Includes Fake News is Being Waged in Zimbabwe” News24, 25 July 2018.

12 Saka, “Social Media in Turkey”, 163.

13 Moyo, “A Vicious Online Propaganda”, Op. Cit.

14 Ibid.

15 Atton and Mabweazara, “New Media”, 667.

16 Wasserman, “Mobile Phones”, 148.

17 Wasserman, “Mobile Phones”; Atton and Mabweazara, “New Media”.

18 Mungwari, “Media Framing”, 1.

19 Ibid.

20 Asuelime, “A Coup or Not a Coup”.

21 Mungwari, “Media Framing”, 2.

22 Ibid.

23 Asuelime, “A Coup or Not a Coup”.

24 Ibid., 6.

25 Pigou, “After Elections”.

26 Tshuma, “Political Billboards”.

27 Ranger, “Historiography, Patriotic History”.

28 Sachikonye, “Zimbabwe’s Lost Decade”.

29 Ndlovu, “Speaking for the Dead”; Mpofu, “When the Subaltern Speaks”.

30 Chitanana and Mutsvairo, “The Deferred ‘Democracy Dividend”.

31 Moyo, “Blogging Down Dictatorship”.

32 Moyo, “Citizen Journalism”.

33 Moyo, “Blogging Down Dictatorship”.

34 Guzura and Ndimande, “Music, Political Space”.

35 Karekwaivanane and Mare, “We are Not Just voters”.

36 Gukurume, “#ThisFlag and #ThisGown”, 49.

37 Chitanana and Mutsvairo, “The Deferred ‘Democracy Dividend”, 80.

38 Rheingold, Smart mobs, 121.

39 Chikowero, “African Music, Power and Being in Colonial Zimbabwe”.

40 Mare, “State-Ordered Internet Shutdowns”.

41 George Ogola, “Africa has a Long History of Fake News After Years of Living With Non-truth” The Conversation, 27 February 2017. https://theconversation.com/africa-has-a-long-history-of-fake-news-after-years-of-living-with-non-truth-73332

42 Ncube, “Digital Media, Fake News”, 44.

43 Mare, Mabweazara and Moyo, “Fake News and Cyber-propaganda”, 2.

44 Ibid.

45 Ibid.

46 Mare, “State-Ordered Internet Shutdowns”.

47 Ibid., 4244.

48 Richardson, Analysing Newspapers, 24.

49 Hall, “The Work of Representation”, 44.

50 Ibid.

51 Ibid.

52 Ibid., 49.

53 Jorgensen and Phillips, Discourse analysis.

54 Foucault, “The Order of Discourse”, 52.

55 Jorgensen and Phillips, Discourse analysis; Foucault, “The Order of Discourse.”

56 Foucault, History of Sexuality, 95.

57 Frey, Botan, and Kreps, Investigating Communication.

58 Patton, Qualitative Evaluation.

60 Richardson, Analysing Newspapers.

61 Ibid., 155.

62 Ibid.

63 Ibid., 157.

64 Ibid.

65 Ibid.

66 Ibid.

67 Nyambi, “Of Weevils and Gamatox”, 60.

69 Ndlovu and Chinembiri, “The Discursive Legitimation”, 126.

71 Nyambi, “Of Weevils and Gamatox”.

73 Ncube and Gwatisira, “Discrimination Against Female Politicians”, 59.

74 Mungwari, “Media Framing”, 1.

76 Ibid.

77 Ranger, “Historiography, Patriotic History and the History of the Nation”.

79 Thompson, Ideology and Modern Culture, 61.

86 Richardson, Analysing Newspapers, 155.

88 Ibid.

92 Hall, The work of representation.

93 10 May 2018, https://twitter.com/nicolehondo/status/994526804634415104 Richardson, Analysing Newspapers, 157.

97 Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Willems, “Reinvoking the Past in the Present”.

102 Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Mugabeism?

103 Richardson, Analysing Newspapers, 157.

106 Ibid.

108 Willig, Introducing Qualitative Research in Psychology, 380.

114 Willig, Introducing Qualitative Research in Psychology.

122 Richardson, Analysing Newspapers.

128 Saunders, Dancing out of Tune.

129 Ranger, “The Rise of Patriotic Journalism in Zimbabwe”, 13; Chuma, W. “Mediating the 2000 Elections in Zimbabwe”, 27.

130 Nyambi, “Of Weevils and Gamatox”, 59

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