Hackers target Herald website

Hackers target Herald website

VULNERABLE: Herald website as seen by thousands of its visitors on Sunday night

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By Staff Reporter

THE website of Zimbabwe’s state-run Herald newspaper was hacked over the weekend -- an apparent backlash by Zimbabweans who have been openly plotting to “jam Zanu PF communications” on internet chatrooms.

The Herald, seen as the official mouthpiece of an unpopular government, has been attacked by media watchers and opposition parties over its bias.

And on Sunday, its security appeared to have been breached when all news headlines on the site were replaced with the word “Gukurahundi” – the term used to refer to a 1980s clampdown by government troops in the Matabeleland region which rights groups say left as many as 20 000 people killed.

Since Zimbabweans voted on March 29, handing control of the country’s House of Assembly to the opposition, and almost securing opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai outright victory against President Robert Mugabe, dozens of opposition activists have been reportedly killed in post-election violence.

Opposition groups have openly called the killings Mugabe’s “new Gukurahundi”.

Gukurahundi is a Shona word used to refer to the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains.

It gained infamy when it was used as the code name for the army operation in Matabeleland which was in response to an apparent security threat posed by a handful of “dissidents”. The operation soon veered off and targeted opposition leader Joshua Nkomo and his supporters, forcing him to flee to former colonial power Britain.

Tsvangirai’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has promised to set up a Truth and Justice Commission if it is elected into power in a new round of voting expected before the end of the year to look into the Gukurahundi atrocities.

Many government departments, ministers and security chiefs have been targeted by opposition activists who have published their official and private telephone numbers online and urged people to call-in and vent their spleen.

It was not immediately possible to obtain comment from the Herald last night, but the breach will be a major embarrassment to the paper’s management.
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