Harvestlikis facebook profile haunt MDC-T

IN the run-up to the July elections, MDC-T revelled at the presence of Baba Jukwa, a nameless Facebook character who claimed to be a Zanu PF mole, dishing out the party's secrets.

Never before had someone ever caught the attention of the country as Baba Jukwa, with the MDC-T, particularly its organising secretary Nelson Chamisa, chanting the phantom character's praises at every turn.

But before Baba Jukwa, there was another Facebook character, Amai Jukwa, who claimed to be Zanu PF and seemed hellbent on attacking central bank governor Gideon Gono before later turning her attention to the MDC-T.

The battle of the Jukwas was upon us, but Baba Jukwa gained more "likes" on Facebook, as his followers thought he was more credible.

Following the MDC-T drubbing in the last polls, Baba Jukwa's popularity has somewhat waned, and instead a new page seems to be growing, Harvestlikis.

The administrator of the new page claims to be based at Harvest House - the MDC-T's headquarters - and is unleashing dirt on the party, much to the joy of its political opponents.

Recently Harvestlikis "revealed" that the MDC-T traditional sponsors were pulling out en masse and retrenchments were looming at Harvest House.

As if to pile upon the MDC-T misery, another account - gaining in popularity - Elizabeth Macheka-Tsvangirai, has been launched, much to the chagrin of the party, which has since sent out a statement, distancing leader Morgan Tsvangirai's wife from the Facebook character.

The party said the account was fraudulently begging for money and should be ignored.

Social entrepreneur Thamu Dube said there was a deficiency of diverse media entities to examine information and disseminate it, hence the popularity of spoof accounts.

"People have a deep sense of scepticism towards traditional media, State and private, as each of the two are in most cases suspected of representing those with vested interests in controlling the narrative," he said.

"I think there's also a case of 'new toy' syndrome when it comes to the media. What's new is almost always seen as better."

Dube said there was always an appetite for gossip and this could explain the growth of the spoof accounts.

"The second factor is as old as time itself - gossip - people love it," he explained.

"Sensationalism is a tool the media has long employed to sell stories.

"But now that anyone can have an audience of hundreds of thousands, ordinary people are taking advantage of social media to establish themselves."

Dube said the impact of the trend was both a gift and a curse to traditional news gathering and reporting.

"Reporters can use sources such as fake accounts in question as lead generators and try and force a comment from an official source and in turn may snag an exclusive," he said.

"However, the downside is obvious; get a story wrong and the publication's credibility is damaged."For the community at large, unlike the idle gossip in the beer hall or at church, misinformation from social media sources further heightens mistrust in the traditional media."

Political analyst Godwin Phiri said the trend of believing things posted on spoof accounts was not a sign of gullibility on the part of Zimbabweans, but a hunger for news.

"It is a reflection of lack of sufficient information coming from the mainstream media," he said.

"The mainstream media does not tackle some of the issues that are tackled by those accounts."

The political analyst, however, conceded that, "it is difficult to ascertain the truth in the claims made by these shadow accounts".