bercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill, which is currently in its third draft. On paper, these policies are aimed at fighting cybercrime in Zimbabwe in a manner which also purports to promote fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. For example, the main focus of the Cybercrime and Cybersecurity Bill was to consolidate cyber-related offences with due regard to the Constitution’s Declaration of Rights as well as the public and national interest. Furthermore, the Cybersecurity Committee to be established once this draft Bill was gazetted into law, was mandated to produce annual reports on how national cybersecurity initiatives/activities impact on fundamental rights such as the right to privacy and freedom of expression. However, as Zimbabwe inched closer to the 2018 general elections, a gap was emerging between the proposed cybersecurity policies and the government’s actual intentions. One example of this discrepancy came in the wake of remarks by presidential spokesperson George Charamba in clarifying the role of the ministry on 10 October 2017. Charamba was quoted saying: … ndiyo riva redu kubata makonzo aya anoita mischief using cyber space [this is the trap to catch mischievous mice]...This is coming against the background of the abuse that we saw not too far back on social media, where the social media then causes some kind of excitement to the country, not on the basis of fact, but generation of copy which is in fact calculated to trigger a sense of panic in the economy, and that in itself suggests that it is indeed a major threat to State security. 146 So This is Democracy? 2017 Charamba also revealed how former president Mugabe had drawn lessons on controlling cyberspace from countries such as Russia, China and “the Koreans.” This was a chilling admission given the notoriety of the three countries for clamping down on online rights and freedoms, with China going as far as setting up its own parallel internet network separate from that of the rest of the globe. While officially opening the Nkulumane Community Information Centre in Bulawayo on 4 November 2017 President Mugabe said: We have set up the Cyber Security Ministry to build our own cyber systems to defend ourselves from cybercrime. We are aware that there are some people who use the internet to fight us and implement what they say is regime change. This is not a first, actually some nations are at an advanced stage in controlling this social media, which is why we thought that Minister Chinamasa as a lawyer can help in controlling our cyber space. In revealing the dual purpose of the Ministry of Cybersecurity in preventing abuse of social media and protecting the State’s interests, there was no reference to the actual cyber crimes or cyber security threats faced by Zimbabwe. Summarily, these remarks escalated free expression on social media to a cybersecurity threat which government took seriously enough to warrant the creation of the responsible ministry. Martha O’Donovan, an American citizen working with Magamba Network Trust, a social media network, was in