In rural Zimbabwe, a group of grandmothers counters alleged election intimidation, bias on WhatsApp

abcnews.go.com:

Ahead of national elections next week, some people in Zimbabwe's rural areas say they are facing intimidation from supporters of the long-ruling ZANU-PF party and a biased state-run media that restricts their options

DOMBOSHAVA, Zimbabwe — Four grandmothers wearing bright yellow headscarves, T-shirts and skirts huddled around a cellphone in Zimbabwe’s rural Domboshava area. They cackled at a video showing a troop of mischievous baboons ripping up ruling party election posters with the face of the president on them.

With a swish and a click, 64-year-old Elizabeth Mutandwa posted the video on a couple of community WhatsApp groups, and followed it up with some election campaign information from the party she supports in next week's election — the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change.

The grandmothers say they and their fellow opposition supporters are facing intimidation from followers of the long-ruling ZANU-PF party and a biased state-run media that restricts their options. But they have found a way to counter that with the use of WhatsApp group chats.

“Let’s share this one with our own people. It’s good content,” said Mutandwa of the baboon video, once her giggles had subsided.

She then got up and walked several kilometers (miles) wearing the yellow colors of her party to a rally addressed by opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, the man she hopes will finally bring change to Zimbabwe after 43 years.

The ruling ZANU-PF party has been in government ever since the southern African nation won independence from white minority rule in 1980, and Mutandwa was a young woman in her early 20s.

A couple of hundred others attended the Domboshava opposition rally alongside Mutandwa to hear presidential candidate Chamisa speak.