By Tafanana Kwedu

Members of the public who spoke to this publication have thrown wait behind the Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill (CSDPB) saying the bill will go a long way in curbing social media abuse in the country.

Nigel Nyamutumbu, Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) Programmes Manager acknowledged that among other things, the Bill seeks to regulate social media and clampdown on those that disseminate fake news.

“The rampant growth of the internet, while it has brought about great opportunities for human development, poses equal threats, sometimes of a huge magnitude such as sophisticated crime and even cyber terrorism.

“To this end, the move to have specific cyber legislation in Zimbabwe and in southern Africa in general is indeed welcome and perhaps long overdue,” Nyamutumbu said.

He added that it doesn’t make sense that the legal framework governing the online space in Zimbabwe still defines a computer in terms of the convectional desktop and laptop machines in an era when we have refrigerators with capacity to store and decode information.

Lewis Chikoko of Harare concurred with Nyamutumbu adding that in recent years some unruly members of the public have been taking advantage of the absence of the law to bully and insult other citizens on social media.

At a social level, Miriam Maseko said, a new wave of revenge; pornography revenge is increasing becoming popular with spouses embarrassing each other after relationship disagreements, by leaking their sex tapes.

The Bill seeks to set out a framework in the storage, processing and transmission of data in Zimbabwe. Special attention is placed on hammering those who access or store child pornography and on those who threaten or humiliate others, as well as those who use technology to incite others to acts of violence and sabotage.