With Kenya’s 2022 general election approaching, Zimbabweans are being targeted with hate speech across Africa
With Kenya’s 2022 general election approaching, Zimbabweans are being targeted with hate speech across Africa
Social media used to be a source of mild entertainment for Nora, a 47-year-old domestic worker from Zimbabwe who lives in South Africa. But recently it has become a cause of fear.
As she scrolls through her Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, she finds posts blaming Zimbabweans for everything from crime and drug rings to corruption – the kind of xenophobic hate speech she worries about , he may be promoting violent attacks against migrants.
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“People write that we should go home, that this is not our country, that we are bringing crime… the messages spread so fast,” said Ms Nora, who used a pseudonym to protect her identity. asked me to do.
“These messages can lead to violence,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation as she ironed clothes at her employer’s home in Johannesburg.
Ms Nora is one of an estimated 180,000 Zimbabweans living in South Africa on the Zimbabwe Extension Permit (ZEP), which the government said last year would not be renewed again, which is set to expire at the end of the year. Huh.
The first permits were issued in 2009 to help regulate the status of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants who had fled economic and political turmoil in Zimbabwe, allowing them to live in prosperous South Africa. Right to work and study.
The permit’s expiration is being legally challenged by rights groups, who say there was no public consultation, and not enough notification.
Anger towards foreigners – in times of slowing economy and rising unemployment – is being fueled by online campaigns like #PutSouthAfricansFirst and #ZimbabweansMustFall, social media experts say, calling on platforms To do more to monitor and moderate hate speech,
“Whenever a xenophobic event is about to happen these digital spaces act as red flags…
“There is little restraint because these stories are shared in echo chambers, often in vernacular languages, so they fly under the radar,” said Mr. Chenzi, who has been researching hate speech online since 2016.
Twitter said that its trained teams review and respond to reports in multiple languages at all times, adding that 50% of abusive content is “active for human review rather than relying on reports from people using Twitter.” has come to the fore”.
The parent of Meta, Facebook and WhatsApp, said in response to a request for comment that it would soon announce an update on its regular threat reporting.
patrol and protest
Social media platforms are under increasing pressure for failing to curb online hate speech, which activists say has led to violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar and ethnic minorities in Ethiopia.
Rights groups say xenophobic violence in South Africa has been directed largely at Malawi, Zimbabwean, Nigerian and Mozambican migrants and refugees.
Migrant rights groups say foreigners are often made scapegoats for the economic crisis rooted in deep structural problems and the failure of South African governments to convert post-apartheid independence into widespread prosperity.
But as social media has grown in popularity, online spaces may indicate that physical attacks are on the rise, and they can sometimes be used to incite, Mr Chenzi said.
A tweet from late July reads, “The people of Zimbabwe destroyed our infrastructure, and now our health system is failing.”
“South Africans must defend their homeland from these rogues from Zimbabwe,” reads another.
Street protests and patrols – such as those recently led by Operation Dudula, which means “pushing back” in Isizulu language – also blame foreigners for crime and other problems.
Last month, Elvis Nyathi, a Zimbabwean living in the Johannesburg township of Dipslut, died after being attacked and set on fire, prompting human rights groups to call for the implementation of a long-delayed hate speech bill in 2016. .
“The brutal murder of Elvis follows several provocative statements targeting non-citizens by representatives of political parties and watchdog groups,” the University of Pretoria’s Center for Human Rights said in a statement.
continent wide
Online propaganda and hate speech are rampant in other parts of the continent as well, from Kenya to Ethiopia to Ghana.
Ahead of Kenya’s election on August 9, researchers have found that platforms such as TikTok, Facebook and Twitter are full of harmful content, including those inciting violence against ethnic communities.
Last week, Kenya’s ethnic reconciliation watchdog said it had given Facebook seven days to deal with election-related hate speech and provocation, failing which it would be suspended.
But Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i and Technology Minister Joe Mucheru have both rejected the ultimatum.
“We operate in a democratic system and we will not interfere with social media,” Mr Matiangi said in a speech on Saturday.
Meanwhile in Ghana, rights campaigners say they have seen a rise in hate speech against LGBTQ+ people, following a draft law in parliament last year making it a crime to be gay, bisexual or transgender.
Campaigners say the draft law has fueled homosexuality, both offline and online, with increasing reports of discrimination, harassment and physical assaults against LGBT+ people.
“Now, even the digital space is not a welcoming place for the LGBT+ community,” said Danny Bediako, founder of Rightify Ghana, a human rights organization.
cultural context
Digital rights campaigners said efforts by tech platforms to curb harmful content, especially in developing countries, were insufficient.
Moderation processes fail to understand specific cultural and social contexts, and a lack of knowledge of local languages and dialects allows problematic material to spread quickly and escalate with potentially dire consequences.
Online platforms should monitor any surge in hate speech and inform the government without silencing healthy dissent or debate, Mr Chenzi said.
In Johannesburg, Ms Nora fears that online hate speech could hinder any efforts to combat discrimination and abuse.
“People need to stop yelling and abusing online; We need to interact in real life, to understand who we really are,” she said.