Disinformation Poses an Unprecedented Threat to ZANU PF 2024 Conference

By Dr Masimba Mavaza

Disinformation poses an unprecedented threat to ZANU PF’s 2024 Conference and the party is less ready than ever. The 2024 National Conference for ZANU PF comes at a time of ideal circumstances for disinformation, and the people who spread it are relentless in their heavy propaganda against the party from within.

The lie that President Emmerson Mnangagwa wants to overstay his constitutional mandate has proven staggeringly effective with the 2030 faction, fueling distrust and tribal jibes. This has divided the party between the army and everyone else, with those protecting personal interests spreading harmful rhetoric. All what is being done now is not in the President’s name.

Disinformation threatens democracy and freedom within the party. Populist attitudes and disinformation accusations undermine trust in media and science, tearing the party apart. Populist politicians accuse others of opposing the President, spreading disinformation or “fake news.”

This has culminated into social media videos of Regalia portraying cde Chiwenga as a rival and fighting the president. However, thorough investigations of these accusations has led us to nothingness making those behind such nonsense looking like mad me chasing nothing.

Those less sophisticated divisionalists must know that disinformation accusations reduce audience members’ trust in the party and perceived accuracy of the news message, while trust in the accusing politician is largely doubted. This means that the victim of all this idiocy is the party.

However, only individuals with strong populist attitudes generalize disinformation accusations to the party members as an institution and reduce their general trust. The phrase “fake news” does not amplify any of these effects. These allegations suggest that politicians can undermine the credibility of the party without much repercussion—a mechanism that might also threaten other authoritative information sources in democracies such as scientists and health authorities.

ZANU PF must not find its strength in gossip or plotting the down fall of others. As the conference begins we warn that a convergence of events at home and abroad, on traditional and social media — and amid an environment of rising sense of entitlement in the party gives deep distrust, and political and social unrest makes the dangers from propaganda, falsehoods and conspiracy theories more dire than ever.

The party must not be divided by idiots in power who are seeking to justify their proximity to the president.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa earned my respect the first day I met him soon after the new dispensation. I had information on several ministers which the president needed to know. He looked at me and asked me to wait in the office of one Tapfumanei. While i was there i saw the two ministers had reported about arriving. I was then called back to the office of the President. He then asked me to repeat my report.
I respected that attitude it eliminated unsubstantiated gossip.

The lesson learnt to that day was you only approach the President with the thoroughly investigated and substantiated reports.

The love for power has made many people praise singers liars and those bent to divide the party.
We have few of our ministers who are virgins to education. They consolidate their proximity to the president by creating gossip.

In order to strengthen our party we need to be able to track misinformation in politics Parliament, with top fact checker full facts and never rush to social media to sale our gossip.

The emerging role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in shaping political discourse is a potential game changer. It has the capacity to fabricate fake interviews and manipulate images, all of which could mislead party members and disrupt the democratic process. There are serious threats posed by these technologies, the potential scale of misinformation in politics, and the measures politicians and political parties need to take to counteract them is priceless. It is the key to our survival.

The amount of lies and fake news being spread against Vice President is making people lose trust in the whole party. With public trust in politicians at a low ebb we must now realise how AI-generated misinformation could further erode confidence in electoral integrity and democratic values and the responsibility on political parties to therefore use AI ethically.

The party must have the right to rectify any inaccurate statements and any gossip Party leaders should face sanctions, perhaps even a criminal offence for lying to the president they must be forced to correct inaccuracies?

As a party we must be gearing up organisationally for the campaign and its role in combating misinformation and stop anyone to utter slogans which are mot approved by the Politburo. We must discuss the importance of media literacy, and whether the focus of fact checkers should be on ‘pre-bunking’ misinformation – putting accurate information out in the public sphere first – rather than on ‘de-bunking’ false claims once they are made and the falsehoods have spread.

Disinformation accusations reduce trust in the party and perceived accuracy of news, while doubting the accusing politician’s credibility. The party suffers from this absurdity.

The 2024 Party Conference presidential comes during a historic year, with structural changes, developments and economical navigation against all odds. And it comes at a time of ideal circumstances for disinformation and the people who spread it.

While President Mnangagwa built his legacy, pretenders practice bad politics. We suffer from bad politics, and it’s crucial to realize the threat of disinformation.

Former G40 allies, artificial intelligence, and social media companies spreading misinformation have become partisan, allowing lies to wreak havoc. This feels like 2017; lies were spread, and we know the results.

Disinformation poses a spectrum of threats, providing false evidence and threatening unity, democracy, or national strength. The intentional spread of disinformation receives massive attention from media, politics, science, and citizens.

Notably, communicative untruthfulness encompasses not only the actual spread of incorrect information but also its discursive construction. That is, while there is legitimate concern about disinformation, it has also become a convenient discounting strategy for politicians to blame those who are not on their faction.

Disinformation accusations are used by an increasing number of politicians in the party. Politicians have considerable influence on the public’s opinion about which information to trust Hence, these accusations might have critical consequences for the public perception of authoritative information sources such as media and science, possibly undermining their role in providing citizens with the information they need.

Despite these potentially severe consequences, the effects of disinformation accusations have largely been ignored by the party leaders and this is not doing good to ZANU PF as a party.

It must be accepted that disinformation accusations by politicians have harmful and even negative effects on how trustworthy citizens perceive information from the party leaders.

Populists advocate a binary vision of truth and show a general resentment of authoritative information sources and an affinity with politicians who blame the “elite” media. Thus, disinformation accusations against the other party leaders strongly coincide with populist communication strategies.

Strikingly, whether disinformation accusations have (unintended backfire) effects on public perceptions of politicians who use them is not of any consequence. Trying to gain what you want through lies and plotting is bad politics and is not the same thing as being a political strategy.

Using this salient buzzword and verify all news might thus be especially effective in casting doubts about misinformation.

We must realise that “fake news” indeed serves as a heuristic cue that leads to stronger effects and indeed a destructive way.

We must realise that we have been mentored to govern for the next five years. We should unite and forget these distractions. We must step of the politics of factionalism and leave these malcontents sponsored by the enemies of the party.

If the party is not serious we run a risk of sinking. The party must avoid making reactionary decisions. Those who claim to be near the president and part of his gang boys dza mudhara should desist from lying in the name of the President.

Social media is rotting democracy from within. How social platforms enable far-right politicians’ campaigns to undermine democracy in the party.

Those who claim to be close to the president are crediting the platforms with their lies saying it is in the name of the president.

False and damaging information about the Vice President including fake news mocked up to look like neutral fact-checks, spread like wildfire.
This deluge is playing against our party unity.
The glee the 2030 supporters are exhibiting points to a troubling development, one familiar to many cadres Social media, once seen as a profoundly democratic technology, is increasingly serving the needs of authoritarians and their allies within party.

Authoritarians of both sorts benefit from spreading falsehoods about their opponents, ginning up panics about leaders and undermining people’s trust in the leadership. Social media platforms, once seen as democracy’s ally, have increasingly become its enemy.

It is easier to spread misinformation on social media than to correct it, and easier to inflame social divisions than to mend them. The very nature of how we engage with Facebook and the rest now helps those enemies of the party in the party. We must always remember that factions weaken the foundations of the party and democratic systems — and even give themselves an easier pathway to seizing power pretending to be preserving it.

ZANUPF is a well seasoned party and will not be destroyed by misinformation.

To safeguard our party, we must acknowledge disinformation’s threat, promote media literacy, and foster unity. By doing so, we protect our party and ensure its continued strength.

The party must establish a fact-checking unit, develop a social media policy, and engage experts to monitor disinformation. We must learn from history and take proactive steps to safeguard our party.

ZANU PF’s strength lies in its ability to withstand internal and external challenges. Let us unite and combat disinformation to ensure our party’s continued success.