Zanu PF plans cyber warfare against online publications
Zim IndependentItai MushekwePF has blacklisted 41 online publications, including websites for
American-owned Cable News Network (CNN) and the United States Embassy in
Harare, which it claims have launched a cyber war to promote a regime change
agenda against President Robert Mugabe's government, the Zimbabwe
Independent can reveal.It was not immediately apparent what measures, if any, the party can
take against offending websites.The list of the websites was tabled at a recent politburo meeting and
is said to have caused alarm among party members during a heated debate on
the media, sources said. Various download print-outs from the websites were
distributed at the meeting.The development comes against the backdrop of Mugabe's outburst in
Malaysia on Monday alleging journalists lacked objectivity and were writing
"subjective views" in their reports.Mugabe made the attack on scribes when taking part in the Langkawi
International Dialogue aimed at fostering closer ties between Asia and
Africa and between governments and business."The press and journalists, are they driven by the sense of honesty
and objectivity all the time? Or are they swayed from objectivity and truth
by certain notions arising from their own subjective views?" said Mugabe.One of the downloads seen by this paper was extracted from ZimUpdate
Forums and shows a reader on the forum giving seven reasons why he thinks
Mugabe does not want to step down. "Is it because he is afraid of being
hanged just like Saddam (Hussein); or extradited just like Charles Taylor,"
the reader asks. "Is it because he is afraid that the party will
disintegrate? Is it because he is intoxicated with power? It is because he
does not trust anyone in Zanu?"The reader added that Mugabe was afraid of the Americans and British.
Government has been struggling to counter what it terms "negative
publicity" by Western media organisations. Among a cocktail of strategies to
counter bad publicity from various international media, the state has set up
a short-wave propaganda radio station, Voice of Zimbabwe (VOZ) operating
from Gweru.However, the radio project appears to have suffered a stillbirth amid
reports of self-jamming as a result of gagging equipment installed to block
broadcasts from foreign radio stations such as Voice of America's Studio 7.
The project has also been unpopular with state media journalists.ZBC's Sports FM manager Methuseli Moyo recently left the station after
he refused to be deployed to VOZ, saying he was not a propagandist but a
journalist. Government has also splurged over US$1 million in an
image-making campaign with New African magazine.Zanu PF secretary for science and technology, Olivia Muchena,
presented a report on the role and importance of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) on July 26, arguing that the ruling party
had no choice but to embrace ICTs to remain "politically relevant".
"Comrades, we are all aware that Zanu PF is at war from within and outside
our borders," said the report. "Contrary to the gun battles we are
accustomed to, we now have cyber-warfares fought from one's comfort zone, be
it bedroom, office, swimming pool, etc but with deadly effects."Muchena said Zanu PF must pause and think who is behind the creation
of "these websites", the target market of the websites, the influence and
impact they have on Zimbabweans and what the image of Zanu PF and its
leadership looks like "out there as portrayed".Muchena said websites, the Internet and cellphones had become daily
weapons used to fight Zanu PF, adding that ICTs were now vogue platforms for
high-tech espionage -hardware, software and infrastructure that peddles
"virulent propaganda" to delegitimise "our just struggle against
Anglo-Saxons".President Mugabe recently signed into law the Interception of
Communications Act which empowers government to snoop on messages
transmitted through the telecommunications system, cellphones and the
Internet.Below is the list of the blacklisted websites:
Posts archive for: 10 August, 2007
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Zimbabwe: Mugabe's cyber war
@ 2007-08-10 – 23:23:43
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South Africa: Sacked deputy health minister tells her side of the story
@ 2007-08-10 – 17:29:17
Sacked deputy health minister has her say
Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge was South Africa's deputy health minister - until Wednesday night that is. President Mbeki fired her after she allegedly failed to gain proper permission for a trip to Spain, and after she paid an unannounced visit to the troubled Frere Hospital in East London.
Today Nozizwe addressed the media and gave her side of the story, which has become an intensely contentious one. Why wait for 7pm tonight to see her response on the news - watch her full 15-minute address on MyVideo right now and judge for yourself whether or not her dismissal was fair.
-Michael Salzwedel
I am of the opinion that her dismissal was completely unfair and was done for purely political reasons; the main reason being that she deviated from South African president, Thabo Mbeki's, stupid and short sighted stance on how the department of health should be run. It is also apparent to me that she was sacked because she was concerned about the 'facts' based on truth as apposed to the factoids based on Mbeki's truthiness.
The truthiness in this case being the truth (or more accurately, non-truth) that Mbeki wants every one to believe is going on. No doubt Mbeki will now try to make the deputy minister a pariah and 'make an example' of her in some way. One of those ways could be to bring a court case against her for her trip overseas, which she talks about in the video clip.
The threatening of people who do not 'tow the president's line' is fare more common then people think it is. It is known that Rhoda Kadalie, for example, has received death threats when ever she writes anything damning or bad about certain ANC issues or people.
Video:
http://www.myvideo.co.za/video/madlala-routledge-responds
