The year 2013 was an intriguing one. One which many, myself
included, looked forward to. A year of great expectations. A year many hoped
would bring to an end the many trials and tribulations that characterized their
lives. A year supposed to bring joy and happiness to many a home. For it was
year in which midway through it, Zimbabweans were going to vote into power a
new government (or a not-so-new as it would be!) in a general election.
The election was going to bring to an end the marriage of
convenience between the strange bedfellows Zanu (PF) and the MDC-T (and also
the MDC-N.) It was a make or break election for both Zanu (PF) and the MDC-T (Zanu
and MDC, respectively, hereafter.) One neither could afford to lose.
For Zanu, victory would enable them to fully implement their
developmental projects and policies meant to empower the masses. They couldn’t
do so during the GNU era due to the presence of the MDC in government. Life was
gonna be good for all Zimbos after the election. Or so they said.
For the MDC, it was an election which would, finally, herald
a new beginning for Zimbabwe under their tutelage. For them, it was gonna definitely be a clean
sweep; a resounding victory. It was a foregone conclusion that they were the
government in waiting. Or so they thought.
That election was supposed to be and was eventually held in
July of 2013. But way before that the campaigning had already begun and
canvassing for support was well under way. The usual lies, the deceit and the
empty promises associated with politicians were the order of the day at the
many rallies across the width and breadth of the country. And as usual, the
mainstream media, biased as ever, covered these rallies; the private media kind
of balanced but with a pro-MDC slant and the state media nauseatingly pro-Zanu.
Wise and intelligent as many Zimbabweans are, they were not
going to be easily swayed by media stories. They could read between the lines
and could tell through the lies. They knew what each of the parties stood for. Suffice
it to say the media was not gonna be much of an influence (mostly to the young
and urban folk) in the run up to the election. But not until the arrival on the
scene of a mole claiming to be a disgruntled Zanu member prepared to share the
dirty from his party (my party, he called it.) And he called himself Baba
Jukwa, describing himself as a concerned father and communicating through a
Facebook page of the same name.
In no time after setting up his page, he already had tens of
thousands of ‘likes’ which astronomically rose to around 400,000 by the time of
the elections. The man became the talk of town, he was phenomenal. He tickled
one’s fancy, dishing out daily dossiers about his party’s shenanigans. To the
MDC he was just the tonic they so needed going into that crucial election. And
to Zanu the man was a belligerent. A renegade. A thorn in the back side. The
dossiers carried damaging information; assassination plots, election rigging
plans, minutes of sensitive politburo meetings (at times in real time), etc. All
in intricate detail. It was inevitable that they would hunt for him.
And soon the hunt had begun and eventually a $300,000 bounty
was dangling above his heard.
Everyone became really interested and wanted to know who
really this fearless character was. The bravado was just too much.Names began
being thrown around. Lance, Nelson, Wilf, Mangoma, Chindori-Chininga (MHSRIP)
and a few others.
But the posts, damaging to Zanu and seemingly propping the
MDC, kept on coming. Unabated. And at times, somewhat boastfully. At times
detailing how the search for him was going and how at one time he was actually
coordinating that search from Mazoe Earth Station! And he had a message for the
hunters: they had to stop wasting their time as they would never catch him. But
why the confidence? Simple, because Baba Jukwa was ‘your mother, father,
sister, wife, cousin, etc. Baba Jukwa is you, Baba Jukwa is everyone.’ So he
said.
Then the elections came and Zanu had a ‘landslide victory.’
The MDC were shocked and so too were many ordinary Zimbos. Even supporters of
the victors were shocked by the magnitude of their victory. Overwhelming. And
Baba Jukwa became irrelevant. He went on a kind of sabbatical only to return
reduced to now posting about lost and found passports and about chakuti chakuti
looking for nhingirikiri. Life on Facebook returned to normal. The legendary BJ
had lost steam. Everybody forgot about him. And so too did the people on his
tail before the elections. Or so we thought.
Little did anyone know that behind the scenes, ‘unknown
hackers’ were frantically working to unmask BJ. And, lo and behold, the day
that a few thought would ever come indeed did come. It was to be a Saturday, 10th
July that newzimbabwe.com broke the news of the ‘unmasking.’
‘Baba Jukwa outed, email accounts
hacked’ was the
unbelievableheadline. What? BJ? Unmasked? Man! And the following day The Sunday
Mail broke the story to most other Zimbabweans: ‘Hackers unmask
Baba Jukwa…Two journalists implicated, risk extradition.’ The following weeks, subsequent
to the exposure, chats supposedly between BJ and his ‘sahwira’ were serialized
in The Herald.
Once
again, and out of the blue, BJ had become a trending topic in Zimbabwe and
beyond. Many had plenty of questions and reservations about the unmasking. The
story had a lot of holes in it. And Jonathan didn’t help matters when asked
about the role of the intelligence services in the unmasking.
‘Everything
on the Internet is either known or can be known sooner or later. This is because
the Internet is surfed by users whose access codes are based on passwords that
can be decoded or websites that can be broken into in the same way that cars on
the roads out there can be broken into or stolen with the consequence of
breaching the privacy of their users or owners. As such, the least said about
how the now busted Baba Jukwa was actually unmasked the better.’
Then on
the 14th May thezimbabwean.co ran a story headlined ‘Baba Jukwa plot exposed’ and another on the 22nd May
under the headline‘Senior minister
confirms Baba Jukwa identity.’ Both stories were rubbishing the unknown
hackers’ initial unmasking and strongly hinted on The Sunday Mail Editor,
Edmund Kudzayi, as being the real Baba Jukwa.
And Thursday, the 19th June was to usher in the
second unmasking of BJ. This time not by ‘unknown hackers’ but by the police of
the beloved republic; the Zimbabwe Republic Police. Edmund Kudzayi was arrested
on allegations of being Baba Jukwa. The matter is now before the courts.
All that remains to be seen is whether the state will prove
beyond reasonable doubt if the seemingly affable young fella is indeed the real
Baba Jukwa. Or as the pre-elections BJ said ‘Baba Jukwa is you, me, everyone.’
Will Edmund Kudzayi lead to yet more unmaskings of people in
the Baba Jukwa cartel?
Hameno!
God protect the innocent.
God protect and Bless Zimbabwe.
