(19 Aug 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Domboshava, Zimbabwe - 15 August 2023
1. Various of Citizens Coalition For Change activist Elizabeth Mutandwa feeding her chickens at home
2. Various of Mutandwa washing dishes
3. Various of Mutandwa dressing for rally, walking outside
4. Various of Mutandwa and friends looking at WhatsApp messages on phone
5. SOUNDBITE (Shona) Elizabeth Mutandwa, Citizens Coalition For Change activist:
"Everyone around here knows we are opposition activists, so some people are too afraid to openly associate with us. But it's not a problem anymore, we talk to them through WhatsApp, and they can participate in the campaign from the safety of their homes and on election day to vote for (Nelson) Chamisa.”
6. Mutandwa and friends passing through some gates
7. Wide of crowd waiting for Citizens Coalition For Change leader Nelson Chamisa
8. Mutandwa at rally
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Harare - 17 August 2023
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Rejoice Ngwenya, Communication expert:
“Online messaging is a very urban thing. But of course because of poor radio coverage, WhatsApp messaging has assumed a very high impact phase. So I believe that is why it is not necessary to be crying about ZTV and ZBC (state-run broadcast media) anymore because the forwarded message has assumed a very strong presence in messaging. It has got its limitations but certainly the fall back for reference is very high."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Domboshava, Zimbabwe - 15 August 2023
10. Mutandwa at rally
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Harare - 17 August 2023
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Rejoice Ngwenya, Communication expert:
"When you are going to use online messaging there must be a good network, which is where the issue is now the network is very poor. You also need charging systems and of course as you say, data. Those things are generally limited in rural areas.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Domboshava, Zimbabwe - 15 August 2023
12. Various of Chamisa arriving at rally
13. Chamisa addressing supporters
STORYLINE:
Four elderly women in opposition party outfits huddled around a smartphone in Zimbabwe’s rural Domboshava area - about 40 kilometres from the capital, Harare - and laughed at a viral video showing a troop of baboons tearing ruling party campaign posters apart.
64-year-old Elizabeth Mutandwa posted the video to several community WhatsApp groups, along with other campaign information and news stories plucked from various online sources, before walking several kilometres to a rally addressed by main opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa.
While several hundred people attended Tuesday's rally, many more from the neighbourhood stayed at home because they were too afraid of intimidation or didn't hear about it from the state broadcaster.
To counter the intimidation and dearth of information, rural townspeople are increasingly turning to social media and instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp to get their message across.
Such technology was previously widely used in urban areas but has been making inroads in rural areas where word of mouth or state-run radio are usually the primary sources of information.
The group of four elderly women in their 60s are leading the initiative to push information to promote their party - Citizens Coalition for Change - in their locality, amid claims that meetings are either banned or too risky to conduct regularly due to intimidation and biased state media.
"But it's not a problem anymore, we talk to them through WhatsApp, and they can participate in the campaign from the safety of their homes,” she added.
#zimbabwe #whatsapp #grandmothers #elections
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