African Civil Society Condemns Internet Shutdown During Uganda Election PRESS STATEMENT
African Civil Society Condemns Internet Shutdown During Uganda Election PRESS STATEMENT For Immediate Release – 16th January 2026 Leading African civil society organisations, social movements & content creators stand in unequivocal solidarity with the people of Uganda following the January 15th Presidential Election, which took place under a nationwide internet shutdown imposed by authorities days before […]
A Tale Of Two Patrices – Why African Football Needs To Cut Ties With Polluting Sponsors
A Tale Of Two Patrices – Why African Football Needs To Cut Ties With Polluting Sponsors By Trust Kudzayi Chikodzo, Coordinator of Kick Polluters Out and the #KickTotalOutOfAFCON campaign This year’s Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON) has delivered plenty of magical moments, but perhaps the most striking was the iconic image of the […]
Rural Digital Kiosk
Bridging the Digital Divide: At Magamba Civic Tech Lab, we believe technology should serve everyone — not just those in cities. That’s why we’re pioneering the Rural Digital Kiosk, a community-driven solution designed to bring information, education, and opportunity to underserved rural communities across Zimbabwe. Why the Rural Digital Kiosk? Across Zimbabwe and much of […]
Zimbabwe Youths & Artists Rise Up in Total Smackdown Teach-In:
Creative Resistance Against Fossil Colonialism By Trust Chikodzo HARARE, ZIMBABWE – On 20 August, at Moto Republik, one of Zimbabwe’s leading safe spaces for youth creativity, 28 young people, including artists, students, and activists, gathered for the Kick Polluters Out Campaign: Total Smackdown Teach-In. A teach-in is an innovative form of protest and political education […]
King Kandoro Headlines Shoko Festival Comedy Night
By Staff Reporter:ZIMBABWE’S comedy royalty Mukudzei “King Kandoro” Majoni will headline the highly anticipated Shoko Comedy Night at this year’s landmark 15th edition of Shoko Festival, set for Thursday, September 25 at Harare Gardens.Advance tickets are already on sale at $15 online through www.flippintickets.co.zw and at Moto Republik box office on 3 Allan Wilson Avenue, […]
Call For Sessions: Hub Unconference 2025
Call for Sessions, Speakers, Partners, and Sponsors Join us in shaping the future of digital sovereignty in Africa! The Shoko Festival Hub Unconference 2025 is excited to announce its theme: “Decolonize the Internet.” As Africa continues to forge its digital identity, we recognize the critical importance of challenging colonial legacies embedded in internet infrastructure, biased […]
Climate and Culture in Crisis
By Shaun Karongosora I’m sitting on the edge of a cracked wooden bench, camera in hand, the sun rising slow and golden over the bushlands of Tsholotsho. It’s my first field trip, first time this far from the city, first time working on something that feels bigger than me. We’ve come here to document the […]
Reflections from the 2025 Africa Social Movements Baraza
From Accra’s 2025 Africa Social Movements Baraza came a surge of hope and strategy: activists from all 54 African nations rallied under “The Power of Movements,” sharpening tactics to confront Big Oil and the climate emergency. Highlights included the Kick Total Out of Africa campaign’s creative resistance, a call for deep, constituency-based organising, and a […]
Youth Rising: How Malawi and Tanzania’s Media Hubs Are Rewriting the Narrative Ahead of Elections
In the heart of Southern and East Africa, a new wave of storytelling is taking root. From satirical puppet shows to podcasts amplifying women’s voices, the region’s young creatives are finding bold, fearless ways to speak truth to power—just in time for pivotal national elections. This movement recently took shape through the Digital Democracy Akademy […]
Launch of the Digital Democracy Hackathon: Empowering Sub-Saharan Voices
The Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI) Hackathon is set to take place virtually on 9 and 10 May 2025, bringing together innovators, developers, activists, and community leaders to create technology-driven solutions aimed at enhancing democratic participation across Africa. Applications are open until the 30th of April, this groundbreaking hackathon focuses on leveraging technology to empower citizens, […]
10 Artists Selected for the 2025 Free2Express Augmented Reality Project
The Free2Expres project, implemented by Magamba Network and WELEAD Trust, empowers young Zimbabweans to safely express themselves and demand their rights amidst increasing restrictions on civic freedoms. With a core goal to foster a future where young Zimbabweans are empowered to freely and safely express themselves and demand their rights, the Free2Expres Augmented Reality Project […]
Green Media Accelerator Event Breaks New Ground for African Media Startups
Green Media Accelerator Event Breaks New Ground for African Media Startups [Nairobi, Kenya: 29 February 2025] — Five innovative media startups from Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe have received cash grants to launch their climate justice media projects through the first-ever Green Media Accelerator (GMA) bootcamp. Organized, with the support of SIDA, by three partners […]
Breakthrough Innovations in Human Rights: CHARM Africa Engage 2024 Hackathon’s Inspiring Highlights from Banjul
As we shine the spotlight on the incredible achievements from the recently concluded, Consortium For Human Rights In Sub Saharan Africa (CHARM) Africa Engage 2024 Hackathon held in Banjul, Gambia, led by Magamba Network. The pioneering two-day event, brought together an inspired collective of developers, activists, and innovators dedicated to harnessing technology for the betterment […]
Call for Applications: The Green Media Accelerator Bootcamp
Call for Applications: The Green Media Accelerator Bootcamp The Green Media Accelerator is an innovative bootcamp designed to support African media startups in creating cutting-edge climate justice content. This intensive multi-day program will bring together media startups from across Africa to sharpen their skills in environmental reporting, climate justice, investigative journalism, and content creation. Participants […]
AFRICA-WIDE Virtual HACKATHON 2024
Join us for the Africa Engage 2024 Virtual Hackathon—an exciting opportunity for developers, activists, and innovators across the continent to come together and build a transformative digital solution! This groundbreaking hackathon aims to empower Africans to access, engage with, and utilize essential human rights tools and mechanisms. Over two days, participants will collaborate virtually to […]
Hub UnConference 2024: AI and Civic Engagement Focus
Zimbabwe’s premier annual gathering on digital media, civic tech, and the creative economy, Hub UnConference, is returning this year with a two-day event scheduled for September 24 and 25 at Moto Republik in Harare.
Shoko Festival announces call for artistes for 2024 edition
Shoko Festival, one of the country’s most dynamic creative sector festivals, is inviting creative individuals who wish to participate in the 2024 edition to apply for consideration.
Celebrity comedians call for TotalEnergies to be kicked out of AFCON
Johannesburg, South Africa – A punchy parody video featuring celebrity comedians was released today by Greenpeace Africa and its partner Kick Polluters Out, a movement of African creatives and activists fighting against sportswashing by Big Polluters
TotalEnergies Has no Place in African Football
The African Cup of Nations (AFCON) — Africa’s landmark football tournament — is heading into the quarter finals in Cote D’Ivoire. As promised, the tournament has celebrated the diversity of African football and cultures. The atmospheres have been electric, and fans have travelled from every corner of the continent to celebrate its most popular sport.
Climate Activists Want AFCON Title Sponsor Kicked Out Over Pollution
Various civil society organizations on the continent have teamed up to push for TotalEnergies withdrawal from the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) sponsorship. The continent-wide campaign led by Africa Climate Change activists is targeting the tournament’s main sponsor, TotalEnergies..
Africa Cup Of Nations Begins Under The Shroud Of Oil And Gas
In a few hours, the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) begins in the Ivory Coast. The biennial tournament is the continent’s largest celebration of men’s international soccer. However, the festive occasion is being undermined by concern about the tournament’s main sponsor; TotalEnergies.
WhatsApp has come in to fill the void
WhatsApp has come in to fill the void”: In Zimbabwe, the future of news is messaging. In Zimbabwe, multiple internet blackouts enforced by the government amid protests the week of January 19 brought the country’s social media sites and cities to a halt. Chatter in WhatsApp groups became eerily still in an online social landscape where almost half […]
For Tweet Mocking Mugabe, New Jersey Woman Could Face 20 Years in Prison
HARARE, Zimbabwe — A young American woman living in Zimbabwe will be tried on charges of attempting to overthrow the government of Zimbabwe with a tweet mocking President Robert Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state. The arrest of the woman, Martha O’Donovan, 25, has raised fears that the Zimbabwean government is stepping up efforts […]
Amid Reported Coup, Zimbabwe’s National Police Continue to Crack Down on Free Speech
Even as Zimbabwe’s army seized power in the nation’s capital of Harare earlier this week, placing President Robert Mugabe under house arrest, the country’s national police force continued to go after dissidents who criticize the dictator, who has been in power for 37 years. Comedian and rapper Samm Monro, co-creator of the progressive Magamba Network, announced via Twitter […]
Satire is booming after Robert Mugabe’s fall
Now Zimbabwe’s comedians want to ensure that the gags keep rolling” Read More
Zambezi News Comedians
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation is notorious for several reasons. First, as a mouthpiece for the Zanu-PF party, whose 91-year-old president Robert Mugabe recently fell over at a press conference, causing a worldwide avalanche of memes and a more localised effort to suppress the original evidence. Second, for its appalling technical glitches. And, third, for its ingenious spoof by […]
Laughing at power in Zimbabwe.
Comrade Fatso, the co-founder of the Magamba Network, reflects on how satire, hip hop and youth activism are paving the way for democracy in Zimbabwe. Read More
Magamba TV produces political satire for a social media-connected generation.
“On the one hand, we know that quite a few government ministers actually watch our stuff….So these dudes, they do watch it, to get a sense of what young people are thinking. Read More
The satirists and comics who stood up to Mugabe.
Who owns civic space?
Comrade Fatso and Outspoken met each other at a poetry slam in Harare, Zimbabwe. The two hip hop and spoken word artists started working together organizing live poetry events while running a youth network in between gigs at the same time. They soon realized more and more young people wanted to get involved. Their alliance, Magamba […]
Will Zimbabwe KeepItOn during the upcoming election?
Guest post by Koliwe Majama, a Zimbabwean media, information, communications, and technologies consultant with over 15 years experience working in civil society lobby and advocacy. The internet has exploded and may, in the few hours remaining before the poll on Monday, decide who takes the jackpot. Zimbabwe is going into a make-or-break election to choose its […]