By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |
A top general has revealed that the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) is training military agents to counter social media so as to stifle citizen unrest that he referred to as “cyber warfare”.
The revelation comes at a time a government regulator, The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has just banned promotions giving cheap access to communication.
Phillip Valerio Sibanda, the ZNA commander, told State media on Wednesday that “insurgents” were using telecommunications to cause strife, adding the army would boost its alertness to perceived agents of regime change.
Thousands of Zimbabweans last month rattled the Zanu PF government with nationwide protests against rising poverty, corruption, unpopular policies and bad governance, widely using social media to mobilise.
A leading protester and pastor, Evan Mawarire used his #ThisFlag campaign to rally citizens in the protests and has since skipped the border to South Africa after being acquitted on treason.
He has received repeated threats from President Robert Mugabe for mobilising protesters.
Mugabe and his authorities insist the protesters were funded by western governments, and the US, Britain and France have been singled out as key architects of the demonstrations.
“We are already dealing with these threats. As an army, at our institutions of training, we are training our officers to be able to deal with this new threat we call cyber warfare where weapons — not necessarily guns but basically information and communication technology — are being used to mobilise people to do the wrong things.
“We will be equal to the task when the time comes. The most important function, as outlined in the Constitution is to protect Zimbabwe, its people, national security, territorial integrity and to uphold the Constitution,” said Sibanda.
“To deal with the important task of protecting Zimbabwe, we have to organise and train the army. We do not train or organise when there is war going on. The major task we are undertaking now is that of training and preparing the army for whatever eventuality the country might face,” he added.
Meanwhile, POTRAZ has arm-twisted telecommunication service providers to discontinue promotions that have been providing cheap access to mobile telephony.
The move is seen as another government attempt to stunt the flow of information among restless citizens as the economy continues to downslide and poverty worsens while Mugabe’s establishment struggles to find solutions ahead of crucial general elections in 2018.
POTRAZ has ordered service providers like the government-owned NetOne. Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, Telecel Zimbabwe and others to stop rolling out cheap bundles and bonus voice calls.
The service providers have since issued statements notifying clients that the promotions and bundles would no longer be available.
The Econet promotions ended on 31 July but the service provider said it was engaging with POTRAZ on the way forward.
Telecel Zimbabwe wrote to customers: “Dear customer, due to a regulatory directive, we have stopped mega bonus and other promotions, until further notice. Apologies for the inconvenience caused. Nehanda Radio
