The Sunday Mail
The authorities are believed to be keen to question UK-based computer programmer Mr Walter Shoko in connection with communications he exchanged with Mxolisi Ncube and Mkhululi Chimoio who were last week implicated as the administrators behind the Facebook page, Baba Jukwa.
Documents seen by The Sunday Mail revealed e-mail communication in which Shoko promised to supply Baba Jukwa with spying equipment.
Although it is unclear whether or not the equipment was actually ever delivered, legal experts last night said that the police would be able to charge Shoko for conspiracy to invade privacy and infringe on individual delictual rights.
In an email sent from his personal email account ([email protected]), he, at one point, expressed concern about being apprehended by the security services and said: “I have spoken to my trusted friends about the spying equipment; the question of logistics came up.
“How will we be able to deliver the equipment into Zimbabwe without detection?”
Baba Jukwa then reassures him saying: “Don’t worry about that, I have boys in South Africa, can you send as quickly as possible, will advise of address when you reply.”
The authorities are believed to be deliberately keeping a tight lip over the investigation.
Yesterday national police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said: “I haven’t been informed (about the investigation). I will have to check for you.” Efforts to contact her afterwards were fruitless as she was no longer answering her phone.
The authorities are also believed to be interested in the role Shoko played in managing a subversive website that had been set up by Ncube and Chimoio.
Communication seen by The Sunday Mail apparently shows Shoko working as a collaborator on the project, authoring articles and uploading content on behalf of the two South Africa-based journalists.
Shoko joins a growing list of Zimbabweans being implicated in the Baba Jukwa syndicate. Many collaborators sincerely believed they were communicating with a senior official that had gone rogue. The scandal threatens to suck in other prominent figures with The Zimbabwean editor Wilf Mbanga, MDC-T Harare spokesman Mr Obert Gutu and MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett already having been implicated.
Mr Gutu has taken on the two accused journalists as clients and has vowed to take legal action against NewZimbabwe.com, The Sunday Mail and The Herald.
Baba Jukwa came to prominence as he seemed to evade the authorities and posted defamatory content on the internet under the cover of anonymity, quickly amassing hundreds of thousands of followers on the Facebook social network.
He was the subject of intrigue in the run-up to the 2013 harmonised elections after claiming to be a disgruntled senior official with access to President Mugabe’s inner circle.
At the height of his celebrity, he was widely featured in international media such as the BBC and Al-Jazeera.
At one point, he claimed that Zanu-PF had set a bounty of US$300 000 on his head.
Documents released last week by hackers show him discussing the matter in an e-mail to a personal companion only identified as Commander Milan and admitting that he had made it all up.
