MEDIA MONITORING PROJECT ZIMBABWEMEDIA UPDATE #
2001/49
3- 9 December 2001
Contents
1. Summary
2.
International Relations- ZBC blames SA media
3. Supreme Court Ruling on
Land
4. The Electoral Process- confusing the electorate
5.
Chegutu mayoral elections- still sidelined
6. Chihuri's
complicity
7. Memoirs 2000: Lest we forget
i.
Feeback from GLAZ
ii. Continually impressed
8. From our
subscribers
i. Reader feedback welcome- from Shingi Nyoka
ii. Limited
access- From D. Betram
1. Summary
The state media continued to
plumb new depth of propaganda in
their coverage of the passing of the
Zimbabwe Democracy and
Economic Recovery Bill by the United States House
of
Representatives. Both ZBC and the public press led by The
Herald
misinformed, deliberately or otherwise, its audiences on the
Bill.
The Herald peddled unsubstantiated claims that the Bill was
drafted
with the help of the MDC and stated that its purpose was to
derail
government's land reform programme to protect the interests
of farmers. The
paper also tried to generate opposition to the Bill by
connecting it to
imperialism, sensationalizing its impact on land
reform, unemployment,
commodity shortages, and general
suffering among ordinary
Zimbabweans.
They proceeded to label the Bill a "Zimbabwe Sanctions
Bill", a
description used to whip up emotions and elicit public sympathy
for
the Zanu PF government.
Analysts, who were predominantly from the
SAPES Trust, were
quoted corroborating government propaganda that the Bill
meant
imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe. Emphasis was put on the
fact
that the US would not vote for allocation of funds to Zimbabwe
by
international monetary institutions as proof that the Bill would
affect every
Zimbabwean. The state media conveniently suppressed
the simple fact that the
main monetary institutions, the IMF and
the World Bank, had already suspended
any funding for the
country. Even President Robert Mugabe proclaimed the
'death of
ESAP' during the late Muchachi's funeral and stated
that
Zimbabwe would no longer rely on IMF funds, a move the state
media
celebrated.
ZBC coverage of the issue came barely a week after the
much-
publicized launch of its Vision 30, leaving no doubts that the
new
vision was merely meant for visual changes, programmes and new
names
for radio stations and not the quality of news content.
It was left to
the private press to tell its audiences that the Bill was
targeted at
President Mugabe and other government officials, and
not ordinary
Zimbabweans. The private papers also noted that the
Bill was not about the
land issue but good governance in general.
In other developments in the
week, the Supreme Court ruled that
the current fast-track land reform
programme is legal, overturning
its previous ruling. The state media
celebrated the ruling and in
their analysis only preoccupied themselves with
government's
attack on Justice Ahmed Ebrahim's dissent. The private
press
quoted alternative opinion who mainly described the ruling
as
"fraudulent".
2. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
2.i. ZBC blames
SA media for deteriorating Zim- SA relations
The Herald (3/12) carried a
flurry of stories that either attacked
SA's reported stance on Zimbabwe or
tried to link it to a plot
allegedly masterminded by Britain to oust the
government.
The paper, which carried a total of four stories on the issue,
led
with the misleading headline: Mbeki's shock U-turn, which it
sub-
headed SA leader opens way for sanctions, Unholy alliance
with
apartheid party rapped.
The story failed to explain how President
Mbeki had made a 'u-
turn', especially when he is not quoted anyway in the
story, even in
retrospect, as having earlier supported the crisis-ridden
situation in
Zimbabwe.
It also failed to explain how Mbeki had entered
an "unholy
alliance with an apartheid party" to gang up against
the
Zimbabwe government except for the observation: ".Mbeki has
reportedly
washed his hands off Zimbabwe to make way for
sanctions against the country
in a move that has been
applauded by his country's two white parties."
Rather, the
paper used "regional political analysts" to attack
the
"inconceivable alliance" as a "step back in the gains of
the
liberation struggle" and "a betrayal of efforts by
liberation
movements in the region to renew their historic
solidarity"
The same issue carried another broadside, SA's
strange
bedfellows, sub-titled: New National Party, ANC merger sends
shock
waves across region. The paper chronicled the NNP's
unsavoury past under the
apartheid era. Thus said the paper: "The
unholy alliance has baffled many
that supported the ANC in its
struggle against apartheid at the expense of
their own
economic and political stability."
As a line of attack this
had something to recommend it: the ANC
was getting tough on ZANU-PF not
because of anything the latter
had done, but as part of its drift into the
arms of the apartheid
party. Unfortunately, the whole effect was rather
spoiled by the fact
that The Herald was completely at sea with who was who in
South
African politics, or who was now allied with whom. The alliance
with
the NNP was aimed at breaking up that party's alliance
with
Democratic Party and gaining control of the Western Cape
provincial
government. As the Zimbabwe Independent's Muckraker
(7/12) pointed
out:
"Mbeki has 'washed his hands off (sic) Zimbabwe', it is
alleged,
and is now 'in the same bed with the former architects
of apartheid, the New
National Party and Tony Leon's white
Democratic Party...'
"Democratic Party founder, Helen Suzman, who Nelson
Mandela has
honoured for her fight for democracy, will be
interested to know she is now
accused of sleeping with the
architects of apartheid. And will somebody tell
the Herald that
the NNP and DP have split up. The DP, now called
the
Democratic Alliance, opposes the deal between the ANC and
the NNP for
precisely the same reasons as the Herald. But there
appears to be some
confusion at Herald House.
"Tim Chigodo thinks the partnership between
the ANC and
NNP is 'strongly opposed by the former white rulers' and
cites
the example of outgoing Cape premier (not 'prime minister')
Gerald
Morkel who has remained loyal to the DA.
"Does Chigodo have any idea
which party is which and what
community Morkel comes from? It doesn't sound
like it."
In its comment, South Africa betrays Zimbabwe, carried in
the
same issue, The Herald continued bashing Mbeki by drawing
parallels
between his actions and those of the biblical traitor, Judas
Iscariot. Asked
the comment: ".What crime has Zimbabwe
committed against its rich and
powerful neighbour to deserve
a knife in the back."
The paper said it
was puzzled at why Mbeki was "panicking now
when it is clear that the
political violence that marred last
year's parliamentary elections is almost
gone."
To cap its propaganda, The Herald (3/12) ran a speech by
British
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to the British parliament as
evidence
that Britain was engineering the ouster of the ruling ZANU
PF
government with the help of the EU, SA and the
Commonwealth.
Surprisingly the speech, reproduced under the headline:
EU,
C'wealth, SA conspiracy, basically looked at how best
the
international community could help Zimbabwe out of its crisis.
ZBC
(ZTV, 3/12) followed up the story during its new programme,
This Morning.
Information and Publicity minister Jonathan Moyo,
who was invited to the
programme, underplayed Mbeki's stance on
Zimbabwe by blaming the media for
fabricating stories. He said,
".We have not heard such comments from
President Mbeki
therefore it would be unreasonable for us to believe that
what
the newspapers are saying is true. Remember don't always
believe what
you read."
The remarkable thing was that this was precisely what The
Herald
was saying that very morning. Moyo's cautionary note was well
made.
Moyo went on to suggest that the story was made up by
"very strong interests
in South Africa, the business
community, the media, most of it dominated by
former
Rhodesians". MMPZ is confused: was the Minister saying that
this is
who writes Herald editorials?
ZBC Newshour that evening (3/12, 8pm)
followed The Herald's
stance, rather than the one it had taken in its This
Morning
programme. It reported: ".President Thabo Mbeki of South
Africa is
reported to have washed his hands off Zimbabwe to
pave the way for sanctions
against the country a move said to
have been applauded by his country's two
white political
parties".
In the same bulletin, ZBC's Diplomatic
Correspondent, Judith
Makwanya, reported the whole issue in the context of
the New
National Party split with the Democratic Alliance and its
merger
with the ANC led by Mbeki. All this was done to imply that
white
political parties in that country and Britain might have
influenced
Mbeki's comments. To support this, ZBC (ZTV, 3/12, 8pm) came
up
with its usual conspiracy theory.
"According to political scientists and
analysts, this apparent
shift by the South African government is a response
to a
bigger plan by Zimbabwe's former colonial power Britain. The
analysts
say the call by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
for a commonwealth
ministers' meeting is a step up effort to
demonise and alienate Zimbabwe."
said Makwanya. She did
not say who the "political scientists and analysts"
were.
Throughout all this, the voice of the South African government
itself
was noticeably absent.
The Herald (4/12), continued to demonise
South Africa by
portraying it as a country that was habouring criminals
and
"dissidents who form the bulk of membership of the MDC". In
its
article, SA-based MDC members threaten violence over poll,
the paper stated
that the MDC had mounted a presidential
campaign in South Africa, in a "crime
prone" part of
Johannesburg, Berea. It gratuitously concluded that mere
choice of
this venue "showed the direction and policy of the MDC,
which
has always advocated for the violent ouster of President
Mugabe."
The report alleged that there was an impending armed
insurrection against the
government from South Africa. (The
"insurrection" was later dismissed by
South Africa, The Herald
(6/12)).
To give credence to South Africa's
complicity in a "conspiracy"
against Zimbabwe, the report manipulated a
Reuters report, in
which Nelson Mandela supported Mbeki's stance. The
report
deliberately misinterpreted Mandela's statements that Mbeki was
a
continental leader to mean that he had been proclaimed the
President of
Africa. In its unrelenting undiplomatic fashion, the
paper concluded that SA
had "an expansionist policy".
The statement formed the basis of a
separate news "analysis"
article, in the same issue, in which "analysts" took
turns to attack
Mandela and Mbeki. The analysts included, among others,
Prof.
Mwesiga Baregu, Dr. Tafataona Mahoso, Dr. Khabele Matlosa,
all
regular commentators in the state media.
In the same issue The
Herald carried an AFP report headlined,
"SA opposes any form of sanctions
against Zimbabwe", mainly
sourced from SA presidential spokesman, Bheki
Khumalo. This
sharply contradicted its previous vitriolic story, which
claimed,
without substantiation or corroboration, that Mbeki's "shock
U-
turn" was to "open" way for sanctions. On its leader page,
a
contributor, Chave Chigodora, ridiculed SA's foreign and
domestic
policy, and President Mbeki himself.
Probably after realizing the
diplomatic damage The Herald had
caused, ZBC (4/12, 8pm) tried to tone down
the public media's
reckless vitriol against Mbeki and stated that the impasse
was a
creation of the South African papers.
".The South African media in
its entirety revealed what
appears to be a well-conceived plan to get the two
southern
African countries, Zimbabwe and South Africa at each
other's
throat", said Makwanya (ZTV, 4/12) - apparently oblivious to
the
fact that, had there indeed been such a conspiracy, her own report
the
previous evening was evidence of its success.
To further support the claim
that the impasse was a media
fabrication and that Mbeki was supportive of
Zimbabwe,
Makwanya's report was accompanied by an old footage of Mbeki,
in
which he said: "We are dealing with problems that have
accumulated in
Zimbabwe for almost a century. That the
problems are new is wrong and will
not help us to find
solutions. The land problem in Zimbabwe did not arise
in
Zimbabwe over the last two years".
Zimbabwe's High Commissioner to
South Africa was quoted in the
same report as having said, "Relations between
South Africa
and Zimbabwe are cordial and that they will continue to
grow
from strength to strength".
The report was immediately followed
by comments from the
Zimbabwean Embassies in Nigeria and Zambia that the
media in
the two countries were generally supportive of Zimbabwe's
land
reform programme. It has almost become a norm for the state
media to
quote individuals as supporting the land reform
programme. Such support is
not newsworthy unless there is a new
dimension to the nature of this support.
Often unanswered are
questions relating to the manner in which land reform
should
proceed.
In the same bulletin, ZBC invited Dr Norman Mlambo, a
researcher
with SAPES Trust, who stated there was generally no real shift
in
Mbeki's policy.
Despite ZBC's attempt to play down The Herald's
vitriol, The
Sunday Mail (9/12) was unrelenting its article, PAC slams
Mbeki.
The introduction read; "South African President Mr Thabo
Mbeki, who
recently made a shocking U-turn against
Zimbabwe, has come under heavy attack
from the Pan-
Africanist Congress of South Africa, which is accusing him
of
championing British and American interests in the region."
The PAC
secretary for publicity and information, Ike Mafole,
described Mbeki's action
as "unAfrican" and influenced by
Western powers. The report reinforced the
PAC statement with
statistics of crime and poverty in SA to give the
impression that the
government of that country was not upholding the rule of
law and
good governance.
The Zimbabwe Independent and the Zimbabwe
Mirror (7/12)
criticized the public press's attack on Thabo Mbeki. The
Financial
Gazette (6/12) reported that following Mbeki's utterances,
Mugabe
was arranging an urgent meeting to iron out differences.
However,
the report relied on unnamed sources and therefore
highly
speculative. Another report in the paper described
Mbeki's
statements as a "sucker punch on Mugabe."
2. ii. The
Zimbabwe Democracy & Economic Recovery Bill
In another attempt to
obliterate the truth, ZBC (5/12, 8pm)
announced that the United States
congress had passed the
"Sanctions Bill against Zimbabwe". (ZBC has yet to
announce
the content of the Public Access to Information and Protection
of
Privacy Bill approved by the Zimbabwean government the
previous
week.)
The newscaster, Obriel Mpofu (ZTV, 5/12,8pm), said, "
A day after
the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe ruled that the fast track
land
reform programme was consistent with the constitution and
laws of the
country, the United States congress yesterday
passed its sanctions Bill
against Zimbabwe." suggesting that
Zimbabwe was adhering to the rule of law
and hence the Bill was
unjustified.
Of the four reports on the Bill in
The Herald only one informed
readers that the sanctions were primarily
targeted at the country's
leadership. The paper (6/12) initially reported the
passing of the Bill
in its front-page article "Anti-Zim Bill passed." Nowhere
in the
lengthy piece was there any mention of the fact that the
sanctions
would target top leadership. To begin with, the paper used the
Bill
as a brainchild of the MDC, commercial farmers, and
local
industrialists.
In the article, the paper accused MDC MPs David
Coltart,
Professor Welshman Ncube, and Tendai Biti of having drafted
the
Bill, without any substantiation. Different voices sympathetic
to
government were quoted denouncing the Bill, but little was done
to
really unravel how this would affect ordinary Zimbabweans.
Like ZBC the
article stated: "A number of conditions set down
in the Bill - like the
restoration of rule of law, pre-election
conditions and land distribution -
were addressed in the
Zimbabwe supreme Court judgment of
Monday."
Notwithstanding the controversy surrounding the judgment, at
no
time did the paper report Supreme Court deliberations on pre-
election
conditions.
Through this shallow coverage of the Bill, the author further
misled
readers on the provisions in the Bill when the report stated,
"The
Bill provides for the funding of the opposition groups,
particularly
the MDC, which campaigned for it, under the US
Foreign Assistance Act of
1961."
In its subsequent report (ZTV, 6/12, 8pm) ZBC's
Shadreck
Tanyanyiwa, in a veiled attempt to exonerate government
said:
"But for 90 years, the British ruled Zimbabwe without any
pretence
of democracy. The land of democracy that Americans
talk about was achieved
under universal non-racial adult
suffrage under a multi-party system under a
system introduced
by the same leaders and parties in power today. And
today
the country has to suffer for defending the African image and
its
sovereignty".
Immediately after the report, ZTV retrieved old footage of
Supa
Mandiwanzira's discussion programmes on the Bill with ZANU
PF's Chris
Mutsvangwa and Tafataona Mahoso and MDC's
Welshman Ncube and Learnmore
Jongwe. Old footage with
comments from Information Minister Jonathan Moyo and
Andrew
Young of the US was also used. In the report ZBC
Chief
Correspondent Reuben Barwe also used the controversial Supreme
Court
ruling as proof that there was rule of law. He said: "One
political observer
said it is not about the rule of law, the courts
of this country have ruled
that all is above board. So what's
the fuss?"
After Barwe's one-sided
report, Judith Makwanya stated that the
business community expressed shock at
the passing of the Bill.
Surprisingly, she went on to quote ZANU PF MPs,
Saviour
Kasukuwere, David Chapfika and Charles Majange who denounced
the
Bill. Comments from politically inactive business players would
have given
the report credibility.
ZBC (ZTV 6, 7&8/12, 8pm) further used general
people's comments
to give the impression that the Bill had incensed
Zimbabweans.
In its follow up the Herald (7/12) carried three reports on
the Bill,
including official responses from Willard Chiwewe and
Minster
Jonathan Moyo. Invariably, the Bill was dismissed as racist,
"anti-
people", draconian, evil, etc. The Herald allowed Moyo to
peddle
government propaganda without challenge when they quoted him
saying
the Bill ".exacerbates unemployment, causes shortages
of basic commodities,
fuels price hikes and leads to general
suffering."
Moyo further stated
that Bill would reverse the land reform on behalf
of whites and to the
"detriment of the over 236 000 peasant
families and 51 000 new black
commercial farmers." In an
attempt to smear the MDC he added: ".If this is
the MDC's idea
of a Christmas gift to the people of Zimbabwe and Africans
at
large, then our liberation heroes and ancestors must be
turning in
agony and anguish in their graves." Minister Moyo
reiterated his claim that
the MDC was to blame during ZTV's the
new programme; Face the Nation (7/12,
6.15-7pm).
The only article in The Herald (7/12) that came close to
revealing
the truth came from Hama Saburi, headlined "Thaw
relations
between Zim, US". He wrote, "In short, the Bill imposes
personal
sanctions on President Mugabe and some members of
the
Government." This sharply contradicted Moyo's assertion,
contained in
the same issue of The Herald.
The Chronicle largely ignored the story
when it broke and only
carried a comment and an opinion piece on Saturday
(8/12). In its
comment, Democracy bill, a bullying tactic, the paper
criticised the
Americans arguing, "We are a sovereign state which does
not
need foster parents to tell us what to do". The editorial used
the
all-inclusive pronoun "we" throughout, presumably to give
an
impression of popular dissent. The comment charged that the US
had no
grounds for demanding a free and fair poll in Zimbabwe,
citing the court
intervention in that country's last elections won by
George Bush as a
democratic failure. It also stated, "We will not
make any apologies for
taking back our land because it is our
heritage." Like in The Herald, the MDC
and the industrialists were
accused of campaigning for the Bill. An opinion
piece by Peter
Baka Nyoni also condemned the Bill.
The Sunday Mail
(9/12) blamed Mbeki for the passing of the Bill
and stated, "A day after Mr
Mbeki was reported to have taken
the new stance, the Zimbabwe Sanctions Bill
was passed by
the US Congress, raising suspicions that the media
reports
could be true." The report also claimed that British
Foreign
Secretary, Jack Straw, had boasted in the House of
Commonsof
recruiting South Africa against Zimbabwe, and therefore,
"the
passing of the Zimbabwe Sanctions Bill a day after Mr Mbeki's
u-turn
was not just coincidental."
The private press welcomed the Bill,
emphasising the fact that it
will only target President Mugabe, his top
"lieutenants", and their
immediate families.
The Daily News (4/12)
under a headline titled "Sanctions targeted
at Mugabe" announced that the US
Congress was expected to
pass the Bill that would impose sanctions against
President
Mugabe and other top government officials. Gregory Simpkins,
a
US expert on African policy was quoted confirming the story. Two
days
later, it followed up the issue by announcing that it had
received
overwhelming support in the US House of Representatives.
It further
reinforced that, "contrary to what the State media has
been reporting, the
effect of the Act will not be an economic
embargo against Zimbabwe, but the
imposition of personal
sanctions against Mugabe and his senior colleagues in
the
government and Zanu PF." Nonetheless, that did not change the
public
press stance.
In its Saturday issue (8/12) it stated, in its comment:
".the
government, realizing it is cornered, is deliberately seeking
to
mislead Zimbabweans by suggesting that all Zimbabweans
will become
victims of the American action." The editorial
further stated that the Bill
is a "package of incentives" citing the
amount of money the Congress would
approve if certain conditions
were met.
Like The Daily News, The
Financial Gazette and The Zimbabwe
Independent emphasised that the sanctions
were directed at
Mugabe and his government officials.
The Financial
Gazette (6/12), which carried three articles on the
Bill, carried a
front-page comment in which it chronicled
statements made by different heads
of state against President
Mugabe's rule. It also revealed that "300,000 or
so farm workers"
had been made homeless by the government's fast track
land
reform programme, weakening perpetual prominence given to the
success
of the land reform programme presented by The Herald.
In a separate
article, the paper also reported that the Zimbabwe
government had vowed to
defy the sanctions. The MDC
spokesperson, Learnmore Jongwe, was quoted
saying, "This is a
matter between America and the affected Zanu Pf
officials who
through their conduct have invited this Bill." (The same
quote
was also in The Daily News 6/12).
The Zimbabwe Independent
(7/12) anchored its report on the US
Black Caucus, which reportedly, voted
"overwhelmingly" for the Bill
despite Ambassador Andrew Young's lobby against
the legislature.
Simpkins was quoted reiterating that: "It's strictly
targeted at
government and the leadership. We want Zimbabwe to be
a
partner in democracy. We are looking at how to get Zimbabwe
back on
track and not how to destroy it."
All private papers failed to offer informed
analysis on the effect of
freezing international financial assistance will
have on the economy
and therefore the generality of Zimbabwe.
3.
SUPREME COURT RULING ON LAND & HARARE ELECTIONS
During the week, the
Supreme Court made two significant rulings,
on the land reform programme and
the Harare mayoral elections.
ZBC (3/12, 8pm) celebrated the Supreme
Court ruling that the
current land reform programme was legal, without
seeking
comment from independent legal experts on the implications of
such
a development. In passing the judgment, all the recently
appointed judges,
Justices Vernanda Ziyambi, Misheck Cheda,
and Luke Malaba concurred with
Godfrey Chidyausiku, and Justice
Ahmed Ebrahim dissented. Notably, the public
media failed to
objectively report the reasons for Ebrahim's
dissent.
Instead, ZBC's Barwe rebuked Justice Ebrahim's statements
made
during the ruling in which he argued that the land reform
programme
was haphazard. Barwe ZTV (3/12,8pm) asked: "One
asks how can a haphazard
programme have teams
demarcating land using maps and vetting arrangements
before
allocation?"
The deputy Attorney General Bharat Patel was also
quoted in the
same bulletin stating that the ruling showed that government
had
complied "with the requirements set up by the court".
Like ZBC, the
public press endorsed and celebrated the ruling as "
one of the boldest
judgments passed by the Supreme court",
The Herald (4/12). In its article,
Supreme Court ruling on land issue
welcome, the paper, quoted Minister Moyo
describing the ruling as
" a major milestone and an advancement of social
justice
under the rule of law."
The paper further stated: "The rule of
law is larger than the
occurrence of criminal acts even if these acts are
grave."
The Zimbabwe Independent (7/12) article " Ebrahim blasts
fast-
track land programme," quoted Justice Ebrahim stating that, "
the
courts' duty is to the law and the law alone." and that, "
Haphazard
squatting cannot form part of a lawful programme
of land reform."
The
Financial Gazette (6/12) gave readers an independent legal
analysis of the
judgment. Legal experts quoted by the weekly
denounced the ruling and
described it as "tragic" and "a best
example of political judgment."
University of Zimbabwe law
lecturer Dr Lovemore Madhuku was quoted as saying,
"I have read
the judgment in full. It has no legal reasoning, it is just
a
collection of political statements."
Lawyers quoted in The Standard
(9/12), described the ruling as
"fraudulent". The Law Society of Zimbabwe was
also quoted
stating that the court had no jurisdiction to reverse an
earlier
decision made by the same court.
Also, during the week, the
Supreme Court ruled that the Harare
Mayoral elections should be held by 11
February. The way ZBC
covered the story left no doubt that the state
broadcaster wanted to
discredit and malign those who are perceived to be
anti-
government.
Initially, ZBC (5/12, 8pm) reported that the
Registrar General (RG),
Minister of Housing and Local Government and the
Harare
Commission had presented their appeal papers to the Supreme
Court.
Immediately after the report, the state broadcaster reported
that residents
associations from "several high density suburbs in
Harare have withdrawn
membership from the Combined
Harare Residents Association (CHRA)" CHRA won
the High
Court order compelling the RG's office to conduct the
elections
before the end of the year. In the report, Cuthbert Mamvura,
the
president of Warren Park Residents Association, and Mike Banda
of
Mabvuku Residents Association were quoted denouncing CHRA,
stating that its
leaders had political ambitions. MMPZ notes that
there is nothing that
criminalizes political participation by citizens
or groups of citizens in
Zimbabwe's statutes. It is therefore
saddening to note the attempt by the
only national broadcaster in
the country to treat anything that they perceive
is aligned to the
opposition as illegal and therefore undesirable. For
example, the
reporter stated: "Samudzimu (CHRA chairman) announced
in
March that he was running for mayor under an MDC ticket" to
buttress
allegations made by Mamvura and Banda. Instead, the
broadcaster should
buttress its information role with civic education
to the general public.
Such careless handling of stories has the
effect of fueling tensions rather
than resolving them.
This malicious coverage of CHRA continued even after
the
Supreme Court upheld the High Court ruling and set 11 February
as the
last day within which elections should be held (ZBC, 7/12,
8pm).
In
its new programme, Behind the Camera (8/12, 7.15-7.50pm) ZTV
rebroadcast
Mamvura and Banda's comments and people from the
streets were asked whether
they knew CHRA and its role. All
youths responded "no" and the only adult in
the sample was
affirmative. In the same programme ZTV went on to do a
public
relations piece for the Harare Commission. Edgar Moyo,
the
Municipality reporter with the Herald, and the council engineers
were
quoted highlighting the commission's achievements.
Previously, Moyo wrote
stories that were critical of the
Commission. However, this time, he had a
different perspective.
4. THE ELECTORAL PROCESS- How to confuse the
electorate
The Herald (7/12), hardly three days after the same paper
reported
the High Court ruling ordering Registrar General (RG)
Tobaiwa
Mudede's office to relax requirements for voter registration,
quoted
Mudede saying, "We will continue to demand the evidence in
terms of
the above sections (19 and 20).What this means is
that the registrar general
is empowered, through the act, to
seek or require proof of residence from
applicants who want to
be registered as voters."
This left the
impression that the ruling was of no significance and
that the RG would
continue demanding proof of residence
documents used for registration before
the judgment.
The Herald supported the RG by citing Section 19 of the
Electoral
Act, without factoring in the recent court decision, meant
to
minimize the abuse of this loaded section. ZBC (ZTV, This Morning
news,
7/12) also carried the report.
5. CHEGUTU MAYORAL ELECTIONS- still
sidelined!
The Chegutu mayoral election continued to be sidelined as
it
received minimal coverage from both the private and public press.
The
Zimbabwe Independent, The Standard, The Financial Gazette
and The Zimbabwe
Mirror all failed to inform its readers about the
election.
In its
report on the run up to the election, The Daily News (3/12)
quoted the MDC
candidate, Blessing Dhlakama, stating that he
would "upgrade the status of
Chegutu town by introducing
fiscal resources for road repairs and other
capital projects."
However, that the paper failed to incorporate the
campaign
statements of the other contestants.
The public press gave
attention to the election during the polling
days. The Herald (8/12) reported
that there was "general calm" in
the town, with only one reported incident of
violence. Thomas
Bvuma, the ESC coordinator was quoted in the same paper
saying,
"We have not heard any major incidents of violence."
The
following day, The Sunday Mail and The Sunday News (9/12)
reports mentioned
an "incident-filled" start to the election. Both
papers failed to
substantiate the allegations as they managed to
cite one incident.
Information on the electoral process, such as
who was monitoring and
observing the election, was significantly
missing.
ZBC also caught up with
the Chegutu elections on 7 December, a
day before the actual polling, when it
reported that all candidates
were confident of winning the election. During
the voting days, the
state broadcaster reported that the election was marked
by low
voter turn out. As has become the norm in elections coverage,
ZBC
(8/9, 8pm) reported that 10 MDC supporters were arrested for
violence
to present a picture that the party was using intimidation
tactics to win. No
comment was carried from the opposition.
6. CHIHURI'S
COMPLICITY
During the week the police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri
made
it clear that his previous proclamation that he was a ZANU
PF
supporter was not by any means a slip up. During the police
passing out
parade Chihuri was quoted echoing ZANU PF
statements describing the MDC as a
terrorist party. He said (ZTV,
6/12, 8pm): ".The heinous, gruesome and
callous abduction,
torture and murder of Cain Nkala and Lupani Luphahla (sic)
by
MDC supporters.has demonstrated the introduction of terror
as a new
development on the Zimbabwean political
landscape".
Chihuri made yet
another political statement typical of those made
by ZANU PF officials (ZTV,
8/12, 8pm). He said, " The land issue
is at the centre of economic problems
as economic factors
were now being used against the country".
In his
live sound bite he said: "The distribution of the natural
resources and the
means of production is not easy to achieve.
It is characterized by resistance
leading to some instances of
violence".
MMPZ commends ZBC for
reporting these statements. However,
what is missing in the coverage is an
analysis of the implications
on the partiality or lack of it in the police
force.
7. MEMOIRS 2000: Lest we forget
Your comments and opinions
mean a lot to us. Last year we asked
our subscribers to help us look back on
the Zimbabwean media
with a short paragraph or two about what they thought
were the
main stories in the year 2000.
Starting two weeks ago to the end
of the year we are publishing
some of the responses we received.
Please
note, the opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the
views of
MMPZ.
In the meantime, we kindly ask you to help us look back on the
year
2001. Tell us what you think were the main stories in the year
2001.
Send
your responses to
monitors@mweb.co.zw
or
advocacy@media-monitors.icon.co.zwi.
FEEDBACK FROM GALZ
Rather than enumerate the top stories, let me just say
that the
Media Monitoring Project often provided useful statistics and
a
sense of balance about the news. We are aware of the
generatrends of
biased reporting but it is useful for us to have it in
black and white. A few
of the bulletins were useful to send to
supporters overseas.
Best
wishes
Keith Goddard (Programmes Manager), GALZ, Harare
ii.
CONTINUALLY IMPRESSED
Dear monitors, Can't produce a paragraph for you,
but am
continually impressed with your monitoring of what is happening
in
the news in Zimbabwe.
Keep it up! With thanks,
Andrew Tracey, Rhodes
University, Grahamstown, South Africa
8. FORM OUR
SUBSCRIBERS
IMPRESSED BY READER FEEDBACK
From Shingi Nyoka,
Harare
Just wanted to commend your report. I was impressed to see that
you
have decided to include reader feedback into the reports. It
makes more
interesting reading to include what the average person
on the street thinks
of what they read. And by the way when are
you going to start monitoring VOP?
Yea yea!.
God Bless
LIMITED ACCESS
From David Bertram,
Christchurch, Borrowdale, Harare
I wish to inform you how much I look forward
to reading your
reports. I think you are doing a great service to the nation
and
would urge you to keep up the good work. I am sorry that only
those
with email can benefit from it.
From MMPZ: Thanks for all your comments
and responses. MMPZ
is pleased to announce that starting early next year,
and
specifically in the run-up to the Presidential election, we will
not
spare Voice of the People and any other Short wave transmissions
that
may broadcast Zimbabwean local content any scrutiny. In
addition, we are
working towards getting our reports published
every week, in their entirety,
in the local daily press.
The electronic mailing list will still be
maintained.
Ends
The MEDIA UPDATE is produced and circulated by
the Media
Monitoring Project Zimbabwe, 15 Duthie Avenue, Alexandra
Park,
Harare, Tel./fax: 263 4 703702. Please feel free to respond to
MMPZ.
We may not be able to respond to everything but we will
look at each
message,.
Also, please feel free to circulate this message.
The Church has remained silent on political murders and human rights
abuses.