The Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services has admitted that the government of Zimbabwe ordered the internet blackout experienced by the whole country from 15th to 16th January 2019.
The first ironic thing is that this announcement contradicts the silly denial by the Deputy Minister in that Ministry who claimed there was bad congestion on the network. Deputy Minister Energy Mutodi even advised the nation to make sure we were trying to connect to the internet with proper data bundles.
Looks like soemeone in the ministry realised that Mutodi’s impulsive cheap propaganda was too much of an insult. The government still insists that the order was legal although the ACT they cite has no such explicit provision. The small part that could be interpreted as such cannot stand constitutional scrutiny.
The second ironic thing is that the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services made the announcement on Twitter which has been blocked in Zimbabwe. Perhaps they are using a VPN themselves. Of course it can’t just be any VPN, some VPNs have been blocked too.
The tweet from the Ministry:
Interception of Communications Act. provides for the issuing of a warrant to interfere with communications where among others things, public safety or national security is threatened. An unknown number of arnachists attacking everything & everyone is a national security threat. pic.twitter.com/RS3wpn46BR
— Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting (@InfoMinZW) January 17, 2019
If you are still having trouble accessing Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and other sites try following this advice or use the information in this article to understand how VPNs get blocked so you can get one that can’t. Even President Mnangagwa is communicating with us via social media so I am sure he would greatly appreciate it if you get yourself a VPN.
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