Chitambala Mwewa has lost the Mayoral Seat to
Gabriel Kibombwe of NRPUP
By Hopewell Chin’ono
Yet again, we get another fundamental lesson in why social media does not matter as much as many people think it does in African electoral politics.
Simon Chitambala Mwewa, a hugely popular social media content creator with more than one million Facebook followers, has lost the Lusaka mayoral race to Gabriel Kibombwe of NRPUP with only 19,000 followers on Facebook according to Zambian media.
Gabriel Kibombwe is a man with very little visibility or name recognition on social media
Mwewa was reminded almost daily by his followers that he was the incoming Mayor of Lusaka. This morning, that dream lies in tatters.
He had enormous online visibility and strong name recognition. His father was once Mayor of Lusaka during the Kenneth Kaunda era. On paper, his social media reach of more than one million followers made him appear politically formidable. Yet he has lost to a candidate who was virtually unknown on social media.
This is another reminder that followers are not voters, likes are not ballots, and viral posts are not political structures.
Social media can amplify a politician’s message and create enormous name recognition, but elections are ultimately fought and won on the ground. What matters is organisation, party structures, ward and constituency networks, mobilisation, polling agents and the ability to turn political support into actual votes on election day.
A million followers can create the impression that you have a movement behind you. But when the ballots are counted, the only numbers that matter are the votes in the ballot boxes.
That is the political lesson coming out of Zambia yet again, never confuse a large digital audience with a large electoral constituency.