Digital X is a cutting-edge programme using digital media, urban culture & civic tech to defend civic space, promote free expression & inspire young people to participate in progressive political & climate justice causes in Zimbabwe. The programme is made up of 5 projects: Magamba TV, a production house for political satire; Open Parly, an open data platform; Moto Republik, a creative hub; Shoko Festival, an annual festival for urban culture and The Feed ZW, a video-based storytelling platform for young people.

The programme’s main aim is for young Zimbabweans to actively shape a democratic, socially just, and climate-resilient future through arts, media, civic tech, and innovation.

Shoko Festival is Zimbabwe’s longest-running festival of urban culture. Founded in 2011, the festival is a celebration of free expression, cuttingedge urban art and alternative youth culture. It’s all about giving young people a voice! Over 10 000 young people attend the festival each year. alongside local and international artists and speakers. Over the years, the festival has had memorable performances from major urban acts such as Moonchild Sanelly (SA), Akala (UK), Tony Rebel (Jamaica), Chiwoniso (Zim), Tehn Diamond (Zim), Cassper Nyovest (SA), Voltz JT (Zim), Tumi Morake (SA) and AKA (SA). Meanwhile Shoko’s digital media and creative economy gathering, the Hub Unconference, has hosted inspirationalspeakers such as Africa’s first openly gay MP Zakele Mbele, Black Lives Matter co-founder Ashley Yates, renowned Kenyan satirist Gado, and notable journalists such as Robin Kriel (CNN) and Raheela Mohammed (AlJazeera). Shoko hosts ground breaking events like Shoko Comedy Night, Mash Up Night and Peace in the Hood – the biggest free open air concert in Chitungwiza.

Moto Republik is the first ever creative hub in Zimbabwe. It is home to a community of content creators, artists and changemakers. Moto was created as a response to the need for a space where young people could meet, collaborate and come up with new big ideas to positively transform Zimbabwe. Moto is a part of the Creative South Network, an alliance of some of Africa’s most innovative creative hubs, including Mafalala Museum & Anima (Mozambique), Creatives Garage (Kenya), Gilbert’s House (Botswana) and Modzi Arts (Zambia). Through hard work and an open door policy, Moto has established the following:

  • Becoming One of the Main Safe Spaces in Harare: Through our continued support of the LGBTQA+ community & queer start-ups through our Safe2Speak project and our Free2Express accelerator
  • Uplifting Female Rappers in a Male-Dominated Genre: A major outcome for Moto's focus on marginalised voices was the Female Cypher. In 2021, Moto Republik hosted 3 female rap cyphers, each featuring females from three different cities, Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare. The Bulawayo Cypher was the first ever all-female cypher in
  • Supporting The Growth of Zimbabwe's Creative Economy: We've hosted hundreds of creative events and each year over 5,000 young people pass through our space. Through innovative events like Hustlers Market and creative mentorship initiatives like the Resili-Art accelerator and the ZW9 accelerator we've supported the growth of dozens of new youth-driven startups.

Magamba TV is one of Zimbabwe’s leading production houses of political satire and comedy shows that use humour to speak truth to power. Magamba TV produces popular shows such as The Week with Comrade Fatso, Gazaland Police, Magistrate Matinyanya and Zambezi News – reaching hundreds of thousands of young viewers every month. The Economist has described Magamba TV as ‘Sharp satire for troubled times’ while the BBC has labeled it as ‘Bold, daring and very talented.

Some of the results to date are:

  • Inspiring A Generation To Speak Truth To Power: Our show Zambezi News launched in 2011 was the first ever political satire TV show in Zimbabwe. The show which was a parody of the propaganda-heavy national broadcaster Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation went on to inspire a new generation of young Zimbabwean satirists, including Bustop TV, Madhorofiya Republik and PO Box who use humour to speak truth to power.
  • The Youth Are Pirating Our Content & Spreading It Wide: Our Gazaland Police mockumentary series, which criticizes police brutality and corruption, went viral on YouTube with over 1 million views of the season. On top of that there was organic ‘pirating’ of the series as young fans of the show spontaneously spread it far and wide by printing bootleg Gazaland DVDs and selling them on street corners!
  • We’ve Supported The Growth of Satire Across the Continent: Magamba TV has been at the forefront of inspiring young Africans to use humour to speak truth to power by incubating & supporting political satire shows in South Africa, Zambia, Kenya and Senegal.

The Feed ZW is Magamba’s video-based initiative for young Zimbabwean storytellers. We work with a network of citizen journalists that produce award-winning video content and documentaries that focus on social justice and climate justice issues for young people at the grassroots. The FeedZW was ranked one of the most reliable sources of news during the 2018 Zimbabwean general elections. The Feed ZW has managed to spread some of its most successful productions such as Dear MP to Zambia where young people are given the opportunity to share some of their deepest concerns about their community with their MPs and hold them accountable. In 2021, one of our documentaries entitled ‘Two Good Hearts, Till Death Do Us Part, was nominated for the Luxor Africa Film Festival and the Silicon Valley Africa Film Festival awards. The FeedZW has also won awards for some of the following work:

  • The Feed ZW's 'Drug Story' Wins Award: Our documentary The Drug Story highlighting the rise of drug abuse in the country, featured young people who are now addicted to illegal substances as a way to numb anxiety and depression triggered by unemployment. The story was awarded Best Documentary by the European Union at the European Film Festival - Zimbabwe.
  • The Feed ZW Awarded for Shining Light on LGBTI Community: Our documentary Minority Sex Groups Call For Recognition & Acceptance' shone the spotlight on intersex persons who are a marginalised com- munity not recognised by law in Zimbabwe, with most having no access to basic documentation or the same liberties recognised by gender conforming people. The story was awarded Best Gender Reporting by the National Journalism Merit Awards.

Open Parly is Magamba’s groundbreaking media initiative which provides real time access for young people to parliament, senate and council proceedings. Armed with just a smartphone, our young team of content creators & citizen journalists broadcast live from the corridors of power. As Zimbabwe’s leading Open Data project we aim to analyse and explain complex parliamentary processes so that young people can actively participate in decision making processes.The Open Parly Africa project has rapidly spread on the continent and currently has operations in Zimbabwe (Open Parly ZW), Zambia (Open Parly ZED), Nigeria (Open Parly Nigeria), Uganda (Open Parly Uganda) and Somalia (Kalfadhi.com).Open Parly’s innovations have received global attention with its powerful Twitter Spaces discussions being officially recognised by Twitter for curating inclusive platforms and being an initiative which seeks to “increase public access to parliamentary affairs in Zimbabwe” and at the same time for hosting a panel discussion to address the pros and cons of mandatory voter registration in Zimbabwe.

  • Open Parly ZW - with a Twitter audience of over 240,000 young people - was nominated at the African Digital Media Awards 2022 as one of the continent's leading media platforms for Best Audience Engagement. Open Parly ZW reaches over 12 mil- lion impressions per month on Twitter and its team of committed young citizen journalists covers more Parliamentary ses- sions than even the national broadcaster, ZBC. During the 2023 elections, Open Parly was one of the only newsrooms to give all political parties equal and fair coverage during its shows. It was additionally one of the only media houses to broadcast the election rollout with reporters giving updates from all over Zimbabwe. Open Parly Zimbabwe has run multiple successful campaigns that have resulted in progressive policy change over the years. The project's reach is so large that it is often mis- taken for the official parliament site and social media.

    In 2019 Open Parly launched a hyper local initiative that focuses on town councils called Open Council. The Open Council initiative concentrates on livestreaming local authority meetings and increasing youth access to local government issues across Zimbabwe. Open Council has initiatives in Harare, Masvingo, Mutare, Bulawayo, Masvingo, Chitungwiza and Marondera