The African Century which starts with the coming of the cell phone and social media, poses a great danger to former European colonial powers and to African despots as well. I shall explain below.
Afro-presidential candidate Barak Obama (2007) realising that all the major newspapers were owned by five major families (or corporations) found a way of by-passing them.
The answer was the cellphone. By sending messages to an overwhelming black audience, and capturing 95% of the registered black vote, he flipped North Carolina, a crucial state by 20 000 votes.
Little did he know that he was ahead of what was to be the African Century. It is a century driven by widespread knowledge that was only privy to high officials. A Chinese wizard Zhang Yiming introduced video sharing in 2012 (Tik-Tok) which by-passed television monopolistic news management.
Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall.
When one combines the advent of Tik-Tok and Google search engine, control and mastery of the news cycle, a pillar on which imperial dominance had rested, came tumbling down.
Secrets, long hidden and protected, were exposed.
When Zimbabwean Sister Arikana Chihombori was appointed African Union ambassador to the US, she came across some otherwise protected information regarding French colonialism.
The details are frightening. In 27 independence protocols, named the Continuation of Colonialism in Former French Colonies (1957) French president Charles de Gaule made African colonies sign away their birthrights.
All mineral wealth under their soils belonged to France, and development projects were to be approved by France. All proceeds from external revenues (goods sold abroad) were to be banked with the French treasury. The blacks could borrow only a portion of their own money at an interest.
Annual revenues accruing to France exceeded US$400 billion since 1957.
In Niger, Orono Mining Company has been mining uranium, paying 89 US cents per kilogram, and selling the same product in Europe for E200 per kilogram. President Mohammad Bazoum, who carried water for the French was privy to the looting. Thus, Niger, the seventh largest producer of Uranium (used to power nuclear energy) was the poorest country in the world, next only to Haiti.
Arikana, who developed strong views on French occupation, was dismissed from her position by another French puppet, African Union chairperson Muhammat Moussa Faki in August 2019.
But the cat was out of the bag. Arikana did not need to tell her story through the BBC, Agence France or the American Broadcasting Corporation. As we speak, she is on more than twenty Tik-Tok platforms, and she cannot cope with demands on her time.
Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall and all the king’s men could not put her together again.
The people of Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali and Gabon cannot afford daily newspapers.
But every herdsman now possesses a cell phone. The youths of these countries, judging by their support for recent coups (within the last two years) to chase away the French and the Americans, have suddenly realised that their poverty is linked to imperial exploitation.
It is one thing to guess. It is another to know and to see documents displayed on Tik-Tok about the Frankenstein nature of blood suckers.
But the cell phone and the Tik-Tok revolution is a two-headed snake. It reveals all secrets. The Zimbabwean government would be well served if it employed a team of researchers to determine ways of responding to this new phenomenon.
Zimbabwe in the eye of the storm
The Zimbabwe government is facing a similar storm. While it is true that US imposed sanctions take a toll, the widespread availability of news relating to malfeasance, corruption, naked violence against opposition parties and what comes out as stupid defense mechanisms by government spokespersons brings ill-repute to government as much as imperialists do.
All government officials should be reminded that whether in public or in private, they should behave as if St. Peter is watching them.
All political parties try to cheat in elections if they can get way with it. But in Zimbabwe, Zanu PF does not even know how to cheat nicely (Zimbabwe English).
A few examples will suffice. A Zanu PF group in Murewa, led by Liz Muhondo (probably a Chimurenga name) jumped on a group of elderly men and women (Vakarahwa) and beat them with shamboks. I bet Sister Liz took the Tik-Tok video and broadcast it. There is no way in which the victims could have videotaped their own suffering since they were caught by surprise.
That Sister Liz must be shot. She does not do Zanu PF any good. It is one thing to suspect that she is doing something like that. It is something else to witness the show on Tik-Tok video.
I telephoned a Masai bishop in Kenya who told me that he had seen the Gold Mafia videos as well.
There is also the fact that nothing hidden can long remain secret anymore. Eddie Cross referred on his podcast that he had seen a list of Zimbabwean businessmen, who had squired billions of monies (or gold) abroad.
I saw a report entitled Panama Papers. Another paper was released by the United Nations on the looting of Congo diamonds. The Panama Papers mention the late General Subusiso Moyo as having squirreled some money in Panama.
There are other names too big for me to pronounce, which I will leave to your imagination.
Then there was a Tik-Tok video of an alleged FAZ agent swapping opposition press papers and later driving Promise Mkwanazi into exile in fear of his life.
I am totally baffled by minister Barbara Rwodzi’s attitude towards police officer Matsa. Who on earth could have taken a Tik-Tok video of the sister saying bad words to a high officer in government? My guess is that she took her own video, thinking that her cutting up and acting out would show how “bad” she was.
The Zimbabwe government is way behind time in its propaganda.
- *Ken Mufuka, a member of the Supreme council of Nubia, is a Zimbabwean patriot. He writes from the US.