Cybersecurity and Cybercrime Laws in the SADC Region https://zimbabwe.misa.org of these serious criminal offenses, it has been acknowledged that there is need to find a delicate balance between criminalisation of certain uses of technologies whilst at the same time upholding constitutionally-guaranteed rights like freedom of expression, assembly and press freedom. enactment of cybercrimes legislations could be attributable the low penetration of ICTs in Africa prior to the widespread proliferation of wireless technologies in the last decade. However, the situation has changed dramatically in the last few years with the adoption of 3G, 4G and 5G technologies, which has spurred massive growth in mobile internet penetration and smartphone usage. This growth in internet penetration has been accompanied by an upsurge in cyber-related crimes, digital media activism, citizen journalism, spreading of false news, hacking scandals and whistleblowing. As Mare (2018) observes, the mass permeation of digital technologies in sub-Saharan Africa has been accompanied by dark forms of participation related to cyberbullying, mis-and disinformation, revenge and child pornography, networked xenophobia, brigading (retrogressive role of cyber-troops and troll armies), and production of race and ethnicrelated hate speech. These insidious forms of participation have alerted national governments on the desirability of coming up with cybercrimes and cybersecurity legislations to curb the abuse of digital media technologies. Most cyber-crimes and computer laws have foregrounded provisions such as confidentiality, integrity and availability of computers systems, search, hacking and mutual international cooperation. Because of the transnational nature of cybercrimes, the perpetrator may be located in one country whilst the victimized person, computer system or data is located in another country (Orji, 2015). This follows that the perpetrators may also use computer systems or networks in other countries as an attack base (what is called “remote attacks”) or as a route to reach their victims (Orji, 2015). This suggests that the detection of cybercrimes, identification of perpetrators, the gathering of the necessary evidence and the prosecution of suspected cyber criminals often require the cooperation of authorities from multiple jurisdictions. As Brenner and Shwerha (2008) observe, harmonisation of cybercrime legislations help to eliminate “cybercrime safe havens”. In short, international cooperation and harmonisation are indispensable components in any strategy against cyber-crime. Besides incorporating the mutual international cooperation provisions, there is also a call for these legislations to address country-specific challenges and needs. Over and above these concerns, there is need to ensure the enacted and proposed laws are comply with the necessary and proportionate principles. Although the African continent is late to jump onto the bandwagon of cybercrimes and cybersecurity laws, they have begun to take keen interest on the matter. Some of the reasons for the late 10 Some countries have used the unprecedented circulation of false and misleading information via social media platforms as a pretext to justify the promulgation of cyber-crimes laws. Critical infrastructure like telecommunications networks, power networks, (nuclear) power plants, and industrial complexes are potential targets of cyber-attacks, which could have devastating consequences if not adequately countered. In order to fend off these threats, Southern Africa countries are setting up Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) and Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs). It is generally acknowledged across the board that cyber-crime and cyber-security have