IN this election season, a development to behold has been the Zwitter and Facebook wars between the so-called Varakashi (supporters of Emmerson Mnangagwa), Nerrorists (Nelson Chamisa loyalists) and general progressive forces driven by the national interest.

Twitter, as a media of politics, has become very influential and recent studies have shown its influence in both agenda setting and promotion of candidates. The birth of political and social actors like Pastor Evan Mawarire, Fadzai Mahere, Tajamuka and Zvorwadza also showed the power of social media. It was social media that brought out huge crowds at the trial of Mawarire.

We have witnessed an active attempt, therefore, to replicate the Obama effect; the Kenya effect or the Arab Spring by bypassing mainstream media and using social media as a viable campaign and mobilisation tool.

At the beginning of the campaign period, Zanu PF seemed to have assembled a team of attack dogs that viciously tore down the image of the leading opposition candidate. It is interesting to note that the attacks were focused on one individual and he was initially ridiculed for immaturity, misogyny and bending the truth. No other opposition candidate was attacked with matching vitriol.

Most of the initial leading characters on Twitter sharpened their horns and credibility during the internal Zanu PF wars and thus gained a huge following either discrediting the Lacoste faction of propping up G40, or maybe pretending to be silent observers and others were clearly unconnected commentators. Twitter, in particular, peaked starting in 2016.

It is easy to see that the more co-ordinated and organised social media team is from Zanu PF, although their quality – typical of most Zanu pf projects – leaves a lot to be desired. The opposition is propped up by the general populace, self-starters who put up a strong fight against the propaganda machinery.

I remember attending a meeting with the late Morgan Tsvangirai as he wondered how to harness the youth vote, and advising him to set up a social media command centre as social media had potential to counter print and television propaganda from State media. Those discussions never went further as the creator had his own plans for the great champion for democratic change.

In terms of content generation and agenda setting, Varakashi have been very proactive and even ED has a Facebook and Twitter presence which studies have shown can boost one’s poll numbers. This agenda-setting has, however, not panned out well as the attempts to mask deficiencies has always resulted in the familiar “lipstick on a pig retorts”. I wonder with all the military intelligence and budget why Zanu PF did not have a proper quality social media team instead of the weak histrionics that we have been subjected to by the Varakashi brigade.

The MDC, clearly destabilised by the formation of the Alliance, has not actively used social media except for viral content generated by users. The strong interest in MDC Alliance activities has made social media a seriously strong platform for the party and this heavily compensates for non-coverage by state media.

The battle front shifted when rallies opened to concerted efforts to discredit crowds with accusations of bussing and trucking of attendees. As the campaign trail has been heavily trodden, no-one really talks about bussing anymore and it has become accepted that both candidates, for various reasons, draw crowds.

Whilst rallies are not attended by all voters, the presence of crowds acts as a show of support and attempts to keep Chamisa on the defensive early on were heavily disrupted by social media which documented huge crowds for the youthful leader, rally after rally. No-one mentions bussing anymore, but social media continues to be used by supporters of either candidate to claim the higher ground.

What social media has done has been to shift the influence of traditional media and render it almost irrelevant. Even the leading newspaper editors have tried to peddle their influence on social media to little or no effect. With the mobile penetration rate in Zimbabwe well above 90 percent, per POTRAZ figures, and internet penetration above 50 percent, how influential is social media though? In terms of internet browsing and Twitter, a large proportion of the social media actors are Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, but the same information shared on social media spreads strongly through WhatsApp which is available on cheaper WhatsApp bundles offered by all networks, thus messages have a wider reach.

It is short videos on Twitter and social media that have helped spread political messages far and wide and opened up the political space. We, therefore, have a more informed voter as opposed to previous years.

In almost every poll that I have seen online posted from either side, Chamisa always commands a voter percentage of around 65 to 70 percent as opposed to 30 percent or so for Mnangagwa. Whilst this cannot be a barometer of the election, it is quite clear that the social media wars have been won by the MDC Alliance. It might be the inherent Diaspora anti-Zanu bias but there are also vocal diaspora Zanu PF supporters.

The MDC Alliance should have invested more in their social media campaign, although user-generated content by the likes of Patson Dzamara filters down a lot more. Whilst Zanu PF is aware of the power of social media, they have found a few quality users that generate viral content. Social media as a phenomenon works better when it all seems more natural and unplanned, it is more about user generated content than orchestrated repetitive choruses of well-funded campaigns.