The rise of social media in Zimbabwe has instigated changes in journalism practice, politics and political communication. This paper examines the nexus between social media, journalism practice and politics in Zimbabwe, focusing on the 2018 general elections. The study is informed by the realisation that past studies on how social media interacts with society have tended to focus on a single dimension. Such single dimensions have included social media and newsroom changes, social media and journalism ethics, together with social media and political communication (Mabweazara 2014). No study, however, has attempted to show the connections between all these dimensions, which is a gap that is observable in social media studies. Using interviews with mainstream journalists in Zimbabwe and content analysis of political social media posts, the study shows that newsroom changes are tied to changes in political communication. The results also show that newsroom changes in Zimbabwe cannot be disconnected from political dynamics because journalism practice itself, even before the rise of social media, is shaped and structured by political dynamics so much that contrary to Marxian theorisation, in Zimbabwe, it is the political-consciousness base that determines the economic and other facets of the superstructure.

The development of football, together with its attendant fandom, has been synonymous with the development of the media industry. Globalisation has made European football more accessible across Africa, including in rural spaces where fan identities related to the games have emerged. The growth of satellite television and the evolving digital access to football have influenced glocalised practices and patterns of fandom among Africans in both rural and urban spaces. This explorative analysis explains the role of mediatisation in cultivating European football fandom across Africa. It builds an analysis of localised forms of transnational fandoms grown out of increased access to European football. Football reflects society and the paper argues that the exponential growing of transnational fandom across the continent mirrors ongoing mediatisation processes affecting all spheres of life in contemporary African societies. It shows that there are distinct, evolving and unique fan cultures based on following European football teams. Additionally transnational football experienced through the tri-cast platforms of television, computers and mobile phones has negatively affected domestic African leagues almost without exception. The paper utilised a desk research approach to explore how the process mediatisation can explain transnational fandom across Africa. The study calls for continued study of mediatisation and its effect on specific aspects of African society

This literary analysis explores how the repercussions of violence had both metaphysical and traumatic consequences for those involved in the war that led to the liberation of Zimbabwe, regardless of which side they fought for. This scarring of the psyche is vividly explored in Alexandra Kanengoni’s Echoing Silences and Alexander Fuller’s Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier. The main character in the former text is a black Zanla freedom fighter, while the protagonist in Fuller’s text is an ex-Rhodesian white soldier. This allows for insightful comparative analysis. Despite their differing socio-political cultures and positions within the war—one seeking to perpetuate colonial hegemony, the other to destroy it—in the post-war era neither of them escapes the boomerang effect of the wartime violence. The premise of this analysis is therefore, encapsulated in the Shona proverb Hapana mhosva isangaripwe (“There is no crime which does not carry a fine or reparation”). A psychoanalytic theoretical framework informs the examination as we reveal the traumatic experiences the two protagonists encounter, and trace their journeys as they revisit and re-member their sites of violence during the war in a quest to purge themselves of their “demons” and achieve psychological redemption.

AbStRACtthis article critiques the mediation of the zimbabwean land reform programme in the period 2000-2010 by both the state-controlled and the privately-owned press. Its thrust is to establish the framing patterns that emerge and relate these to herman and Chomsky's Propaganda Model. the bold claim by herman and Chomsky that the media, particularly in the West, pander to the whims of the powerful political and pro-capital elites is explored. using a qualitative case study approach, data for this study were collected from four zimbabwean Weeklies, namely The Sunday News and The Sunday Mail, which are stateowned, and The Independent and The Standard, which are privately-owned. News stories on the land reform programme drawn from these weeklies over the 10 year focus period are analysed with the view to ascertaining the tenability of the Propaganda Model. using the tenets of the Propaganda Model and critical discourse analysis, the study exposes the polemical representations of the land issue by the press. the emerging polemics are attributed to the overbearing influence of ideology, ownership, corporate pro-capital interests and biased source selection. however, the tripartite alliance which the propaganda model claims as existing among government, capitalists and media owners comes unstuck in the zimbabwean media-scape. there is evidently a fractious relationship between state media and private media in zimbabwe. the political and economic contestation of power in the nation manifests in the press. It is quite clear from the findings of this study that there is still need for a model that comprehensively attempts to capture the role of the press and its place in Africa.