Social media must build the nation

Mr Tsvangirai has received a volley of attacks from Zimbabweans including some members of his party for issuing a radical directive that seeks to ban the use social media platforms such as whatsaap and facebook, among others.

While I am not in total agreement with the MDC-T leader on his approach of assaulting media freedom, at least the social media must be used to build the nation. There is very little that a government or a leader of a political party can do to stop people from using the social media. People can evade the ban by using pseudo names. All that the authorities can do for now, is to encourage people to use this new mode of communication constructively.

 If put to good use, the social media can do wonders in the development agenda of this nation. Likewise, the social media in the hands of irresponsible citizens, can destroy the nation and innocent people. In other words, the social media or the media in general, can make or break a targeted entity.

The media, which were largely in the hands of trigger-happy proprietors in the early 2000, have a hand in the economic quagmire facing Zimbabwe today. They lied about Zimbabwe and its leadership and subsequently triggered the imposition of the illegal sanctions by the west.

It is sad that Tsvangirai is only seeing it now. He encouraged such behaviour among journalists and now is tasting his own bitter concoction.

The social media was negatively used to fuel the so-called revolution popularised as the Arab Spring in countries such as Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and others. Popular leaders were undemocratically ousted with the assistance of the West. Until today, these countries have known no peace.

Only last week, the social media was awash with graphics that celebrated the carpet mishap of the president of this nation.

People expended their precious and productive time in creating those photoshops that rejoiced a human being's misfortune.

There was actually an interesting quote that was coined out of the senseless celebration of the President's fall. "Phone yako ikadonha unorwadziwa asi president wako akadonha unoseka…shame," goes the quote.

This quote saves to show how evil and immoral people have become. It is unheard of for a real human being to celebrate the misfortune of a fellow human. When Susan Tsvangirai, the wife of the MDC-T leader died in 2009, President Mugabe buried the political hatchet and attended the funeral of his political rival.

At that funeral, President Mugabe stunned many including western diplomats when he said: "This is a difficult moment for our colleague. He has lost a partner and we must all rally to support him and lessen his burden."
 
The President showed us a template of proper behaviour during the misfortune of a person you politically differ with.  Even Tsvangirai's eldest son Edwin, had to confess that he had seen a different Mugabe to the one described in the media.

"I want to thank his Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe for the kind words that changed my understanding of him," he said. He went further to heap praises on President Mugabe and advised his father to work cordially with the former in the inclusive government.

This is what Zimbabweans are known for- ubuntu. Even in the Bible, the generation that came out of Ham, beginning with Canaan, was cursed because their father, Ham had laughed and made shameful comments about his naked and drunkard father, Noah.

But here were people who posted on the social media that they wished if the president had breathed his last breath that day he fell. People risk inviting curses for their children and the entire generation to come.