Africa Up Close

Spanish Translation of the Week

Trends in 21^st century Zimbabwe, where president Robert Mugabe was recently re-elected by young voters, seem to fly in the face of the government’s use of new technologies. The official Twitter page of Mugabe’s party, ZANU-PF, is an ode to racism, sexism, and religious fanaticism. The messages its 17,500 followers receive daily are truly grotesque.

El Zimbabue del siglo XXI, que en campaña electoral ofreciera al recién reelegido presidente Robert Mugabe a sus jóvenes electores, parece que se da de bruces con algunas de sus aproximaciones a las nuevas tecnologías. El Twitter oficial del partido de Mugabe, Zanu PF, es una oda al racismo, al machismo y al fanatismo religioso. Los mensajes que reciben sus casi 17.500 seguidores a diario son esperpénticos.

This article has been translated from Spanish. Click here to read the original version on El Mundo.

“Western fast food makes your private parts smaller, like whites’” ZANU-PF said on Twitter on September 5^th. Later, to add to the argument, they tweeted: “Yes, the Big Mac can make you a little Donald. Eat African food”—a statement typical of Mugabe’s Africanist obsession. On August 4, a more direct, less literary racism comment was shared: “Do not believe the lies of dirty whites. They are the worst.”

In the same sense, ZANU-PF’s Twitter is a kind of moral indictment for the black man which also warns of the dangers of sex: “Oral sex causes cancer. Imperialists created it,” they said on September 7^th. Later, the party’s Twitter page was burning with a series of slogans created for the dangers of the weekend: “Don’t be a nana, cover your banana. Use a condom.” In a more poetic tone, they also tweeted: “cover your beast before the feast,”—a message that Catholic Mugabe may or may not condone.

Yesterday, the party asked its Twitter followers to share the message that “there’s nothing sexier than an African man with an African accent.” The party also used Twitter to warn its supporters that “young African man, there is nothing sexy about an American accent.” With regard to sex, a strange moment arose when the party asked its followers: “How many of you use porn? Retweet if you do.” The 12 resulting retweets must have seemed like a disappointing result. “If porn is so good, why does no one admit to using it,” asked ZANU-PF.

The icing on the cake is published photos of various South Africans described as “elephants” and comments mocking Hellen Zille, leader of the South African white opposition.

Every Sunday, the party implores its followers to go to mass: “Go to mass or go to hell.” Its tweets are strongly biblical and remind followers that “Mugabe goes to church every Sunday, except when he was kept in ‘big ears’ (white) detention for a decade.

ZANU-PF’s last tweet announced the party’s pride at building a “large statue of Comrade Mugabe,” despite the fact that most of the country is ravaged by hunger and disease.

El Mundo wrote to ZANU-PF’s communications director in Harare for comment, but did not receive a response.

Article translated by Joshua Lacey, former staff intern for the Program on Leadership and Building State Capacity at the Wilson Center.