Ever since the November 2017 coup, which ousted the late strongman Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe has been experiencing democratic regression. Civic space previously had a veneer of state-acknowledged existence and tolerance by the government; however, under the stewardship of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the country’s civic space is shrinking both online and offline as the regime employs a raft of legal and extra-legal measures to thwart dissent. This process has been enabled by the use of expensive and advanced foreign surveillance technology, with most of it coming from Beijing under its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI.) Research from the Unfreedom Monitor shows that the Zimbabwean government stands at the intersection of the security establishment and ruling party interests. This setup, aided by pervasive surveillance, helps the governing regime to maintain a tight grip on political power. On July 20, 2022, President Mnangagwa broke ground for the official launch of a USD 500 million Cybercity project to be built by an external entity. The project, about which Mnangagwa was visibly excited, is to be funded by one Shaji Ul Mulk, the chairperson of the multinational manufacturing company Mulk International from the United Arab Emirates. The blueprint of the project shows that the envisaged city will be surrounded by surveillance cameras for purposes of security and that similar initiatives will be rolled out in the rest of the country over the next few years. The Mulk International project is only one among many others that the government is already eager to construct. The concept of Smart Cities is part of the government’s agenda to create a new society with industrial, commercial, and residential areas, driven by digital technology and the internet of things. The government has already approved the development of a Smart City in Melfort, located in Goromonzi, between the capital city Harare and the town of Marondera in the east. The idea behind this is to reduce the distance to the Robert Mugabe International Airport for investors and traffic from the east of the country. Other Smart Cities are expected to be built in the southern provinces of the country. However, civil society members and activists fear that the deployment and use of surveillance cameras in the country means that Mnangagwa’s regime can quickly identify and eliminate dissenting voices who pose a risk to his political establishment. Interestingly, the Chinese government is already supporting Smart City initiatives through direct technological exchanges with Zimbabwe, hence the securing of such interests would include setting up a pervasive surveillance state modelled along the lines of the Chinese state. China’s provision of surveillance equipment and the infrastructure upon which local telecommunications networks rest remains a recurrent issue, because the government of Zimbabwe prioritises telecommunications projects from Chinese companies over Western countries deemed hostile in their foreign policies towards Mnangagwa's government. Chinese companies such as Huawei and Hikvision have taken the lead in rolling out facial recognition cameras in the main cities which creates a pervasive surveillance state. For example, the police installed CCTV cameras in opposition party stronghold cities of Harare and Bulawayo. Both cities are usually troublesome hotspots for the police as anti-government protests usually break out in these areas. Furthermore, Zimbabwe has been identified as a client of Israeli-manufactured invasive digital spyware, Pegasus, which is an effective weapon for clamping down on voices of dissent. The government has denied the allegation. Zimbabwe’s economy is imploding due to poor governance, institutionalised corruption, and hyperinflation. However, this has not deterred the state from pursuing surveillance initiatives as investors from China and the Middle East with deep pockets remain eager to roll out their technologies in the country. In 2017, state-owned telecom operator TelOne launched two data centers with cloud facilities in Harare and Mazowe (38 km from Harare) at a cost of USD 1.6 million. The launch was part of a USD 98 million network upgrade project implemented with Chinese firm Huawei, funded by a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China. Another state-owned mobile network operator NetOne is in a USD 71 million partnership with Huawei for the rollout of 260 base stations, to improve network coverage including rural areas. Under the project, the base stations are being upgraded to 4G and 5G. More importantly, Zimbabwe’s major network operators have used Chinese-backed loans to build and upgrade their telecommunications infrastructure.