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Mobile phones have developed explosively in Africa, with South Africa having one of the highest mobile phone penetrations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Mobile phones have introduced a set of new communicative and cultural practices. Innovative pricing models in Africa, such as 'pay-as-you go' and 'please call me' have helped to make mobile phones a part of the lives of many who are otherwise disconnected. Social justice movements in South Africa, often marginalized by mainstream communication systems, are increasingly using mobile phones to coordinate actions, mobilize and create networks despite the fact that most of these movements have their origins among deprived communities. This article analyses how the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign appropriates mobile phones and the impact of this appropriation on its roles and collective identities. In addition, the article examines how the Western Cape AntiEviction Campaign has (re)appropriated and re-shaped the mobile phone to amplify traditional methods of mobilization; leading to the creation of what Henry Jenkins (2006) has called 'convergence culture'. Drawing on social construction of technology and domestication theories, the article argues that mobile phones have not replaced traditional ways of mobilization, but have amplified them. In this regard, the use of both traditional mobilization tools and mobile phones strengthen mobilization activities and give new meaning to the mobile phone.

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A growing body of literature on media and xenophobia in South Africa has shown that the depictionof immigrants by the mainstream print media is overwhelmingly negative, and this in turn enforcesnegative stereotypes that contribute to further xenophobic attacks. This paper adds a dimensionthat is missing from existing research to focus on media representation of immigrants withinquestions around citizenship and identity.. The arguments driving this paper are inspired by theproclamations in the South African Constitution preamble, which states that “South Africa belongsto all who live in it, united in our diversity”. This paper analyses how selected print media in thecountry construct immigrants in the context of identity and belonging. We start from the premisethat as a social institution, the media play an important role in shaping policies on immigrationthat have a bearing on these matters. Using theories of media and national identity, the paperexamines thematic frames used by the selected newspapers to construct the image of immigrantsduring three periods of xenophobic violence, in 2008, 2015, and 2017. Our main argument isthat while the media have played a significant role in creating awareness about the scourge ofxenophobia, they have, wittingly or unwittingly, used narrative frames that justify the exclusion offoreigners, thereby entrenching a perception of insiders and outsiders, citizens and non-citizens.In the process, they also reinforce fears of a national takeover by the foreign “other”. Thesearguments hold significance in the broader debates about the transformation of the print mediaand its role in the on-going process of nation-building.

This report is the result of research that started in 2008 with the aim of collecting, collating and writing up information about regulation, ownership, access, performance as well as prospects for public broadcasting reform in Africa. The Zimbabwe report is part of an 11-country survey of African broadcast media, evaluating compliance with the agreements, conventions, charters and declarations regarding media that have been developed at regional and continental levels in Africa.