Zimbabwe: Baba Jukwa, Social Media and Zimbabwe's Future

31 July 2013
South African Institute of International Affairs (Johannesburg)
analysis By Yu-Shan Wu and Catherine Grant Makokera

If there is one thing that is different to the 2008 Zimbabwean elections, it is that the 2013 election has a new 'candidate'. His name is Baba Jukwa. The anonymous social media icon and commentator, portrayed as a cartoon of an old man and coined 'the Julian Assange of Zimbabwe', has attracted the world's attention.

The Baba Jukwa Facebook page currently has 300 000 plus followers, and regularly leaks details on the activities of the Zimbabwean government (with contact numbers of officials!). The character is commonly cited as an insider of the ruling ZANU-PF, who describes himself as a "concerned father, fighting nepotism and directly linking community with their Leaders, Government, MPs and Ministers".

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