The Rise of Internet Shutdowns in Africa
On Thursday 1st July, telecommunications group MTN was taken to court by the Institute for Democracy and Leadership (IDEAL) for facilitating a total communications blackout in eSwatini, as the country grapples widespread pro-democracy protests and escalating police violence. The blackout, which was initiated on Tuesday 29th June, came at the behest of the eSwatini Communications Commission and has effectively suspended all access to social media and other online communication platforms across the country.
Voiceless and effectively cut off from the world, protestors in eSwatini are now at the total mercy of the country’s security services. Amnesty International have confirmed that 20 protestors have so far been killed by police and a further 150 have been hospitalised. In the midst of this, the human rights organisation has specifically highlighted the internet blackout, which it describes as a “brazen violation of the rights to freedom of expression and information”.
The protests in eSwatini initially followed on from the death in May of 25-year-old law student Thabani Nikomonye at the hands of police officers. However, Swazis’ anger is more generally directed at the country’s absolute monarch, King Mswati III, whose lavish lifestyle and obstinance to democratic reforms have become increasingly offensive to the landlocked country’s impoverished population.
Though these problems are in some sense unique to Africa’s last absolute monarchy, the means by which Mswati is attempting to hold on to power are all too familiar even in the continent’s most well-established democracies. Last year, eight African countries experienced partial or total internet shutdowns, including Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi and Guinea. For many would-be autocrats, restricting citizens’ access to information and communication is becoming a favoured tool for stamping out dissent.
Protestors in eSwatini face brutal police crackdowns but cannot communicate due to the country’s internet shutdown.
This was seen most shockingly in Uganda during the country’s latest general elections in January 2021. Here, a five-day internet shutdown was used to cover up what the US State Department described as “many credible reports of electoral irregularities”. A ban on social media and other forms of online communication handed long-time incumbent Yoweri Museveni his sixth term in office and 59% of the vote. Museveni would later declare the election as the “most cheating-free” vote Uganda had held in over 50 years, despite multiple claims to the contrary by Africa Elections Watch and the 2,000 monitors it had deployed to the country.
As well as masking reports of electoral fraud, the internet blackout effectively kneecapped Museveni’s main opponent Bobi Wine, whose young, urban and digitally-connected voter base were suddenly unable to hear from their candidate. Wine had also launched an app called Uvote, which allowed his supporters to document instances of violence or fraud and upload them to a database. Without internet access, however, this system collapsed in what the internet monitoring group Netblocks called a “textbook case of pre-meditated, pre-election internet blackout”.
An internet blackout in Uganda in January handed President Yoweri Museveni his sixth term in office.
This new trend of digital dictatorship should worry Zambians, particularly given the Patriotic Front government’s terrible track record on freedom of speech. The Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Bill, enacted earlier this year, sets a dangerous precedent in allowing the government to identify, censor and prosecute those expressing dissent online. The recent report from Amnesty International also highlighted numerous instances where the Lungu regime has cracked down on independent media outlets, including the forced closure of The Post newspaper in 2016 and the revocation of Prime TV’s broadcasting licence in 2020. Amnesty described such behaviour as part of the “systematic erosion of the right to freedom of expression” in Zambia.
Zambians should also be worried by the behaviour exhibited by MTN and other telecommunications companies in submitting to the demands of censorious governments. Generally, when autocratic regimes want to limit access to information, they pressure telecommunications companies into ‘switching off’ the internet at a time which suits them, as in the case of eSwatini. Zambians are incredibly reliant on MTN for their digital connectivity, with the South African company providing cellular data to 44% of mobile phone users. A further 39.7% of the market is dominated by Airtel, which has a similarly poor reputation in standing up to authoritarian regimes.
As our country approaches its general election on 12th August, internet connectivity has never been more important. Not only do the majority of us get our news from online sources, but in the wake of Covid-19 restrictions, digital messaging will be key for parties delivering campaign messaging and for educating Zambians on how and where to vote. The internet will also be vital in documenting instances of electoral fraud or political violence and sharing these with media and international observers.
As the holders of an effective duopoly on internet access in Zambia, MTN and Airtel have a unique responsibility in maintaining free and fair access to the internet this election. ZICTA, like so many institutions in Zambia, is firmly in the pocket of the Patriotic Front and so it is up to the telecommunications companies to stand up against any attempts at undermining the democratic process. They cannot allow the government to silence the voice of the people as has happened so often across Africa and they must be held to account if they do. To help us achieve this, please consider signing our petition to keep the internet on in Zambia this election. These networks cannot survive without the loyalty and money of their customers and that means you. Sign the petition and let them know that Zambian democracy doesn’t have an off-switch.
SIGN OUR PETITION: http://chng.it/sWqLPCxM65