In a move that has left Zimbabweans stunned and outraged, the country’s ICT Minister Tatenda Mavetera has announced that all WhatsApp group administrators will soon be required to register and obtain a license from the Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe. This outrageous policy, revealed during a recent POTRAZ breakfast meeting, demands that group admins pay a minimum of 50 US dollars for a license, with costs escalating based on the type and nature of the group. The announcement has raised serious concerns about digital freedom, privacy, and the increasingly authoritarian direction of the ZANU PF regime.
Under the new regulations, WhatsApp group admins will also be forced to appoint a Data Protection Officer who must be trained and certified by POTRAZ. According to the government, this is meant to ensure compliance with Zimbabwe’s Data Protection Act. They claim that since admins have access to members’ phone numbers, they are essentially data controllers and must now meet formal compliance standards. But anyone with a conscience can see what this really is. It is another veil over ZANU PF’s surveillance state. What started as an excuse to “protect citizens” has become a legal tool to monitor, license, and punish free speech in private spaces.
The minister stated that this new rule applies not only to businesses but also to churches, community groups, and informal networks that collect or manage any form of personal data. That means even your church group or burial society WhatsApp group must appoint a government-approved data officer and pay a licensing fee just to keep sharing updates and messages. If this sounds like a comedy script, that is because it borders on the absurd. But it is no joke. It is the grim reality of living under a paranoid and oppressive regime that fears its own citizens more than it fears poverty or corruption.
Minister Mavetera insists this is all in the name of data security and national privacy. But one must ask. Who protects citizens from the state’s prying eyes? Who licenses the government when it leaks voter databases to ruling party agents or uses state telecoms to monitor opposition communication? This is not about data protection. It is about power and control. ZANU PF has failed to deliver economic transformation. It cannot fix the health sector. It cannot stop inflation. But it can find time to license WhatsApp group admins and threaten penalties on anyone who fails to comply.
Many legal experts and civil society actors have questioned how this policy will be enforced and what it means for freedom of association in the digital space. Others worry that this will give the state the power to shut down groups it deems politically sensitive or threatening. Today it is data protection. Tomorrow it will be content regulation. This is a slippery slope toward full-blown digital authoritarianism.
POTRAZ has urged group admins with questions to reach out for guidance. But that is not comfort. It is a warning. The message is clear. The government is watching. If you are an admin of a group that shares anything remotely political or critical of the state, you are now a target. Pay up. Appoint your officer. Or else.
This latest policy places Zimbabwe in a league of its own. While other countries are seeking to regulate big tech and protect user data from global corporations, ZANU PF is turning inward, using data laws to suffocate its own people. It is a shameful move that must be resisted by every freedom-loving citizen. WhatsApp groups are not the problem. ZANU PF’s obsession with controlling every aspect of public and private life is.
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