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The stay-away - Excerpt from Weekly update 2003-11
Media Monitoring
Project Zimbabwe
March
17th – March 23rd 2003
The success
of the two-day national strike called by the MDC to protest government’s
failure to uphold the rule of law and increasing economic hardship
proved to be a difficult event for the government controlled media
to cover. Initially, this section of the media, together with The
Daily Mirror, tried to discourage people from taking
part on the grounds that it was illegal and ignored the MDC’s reasons
for calling for the strike. And when the success of the stay-away
was apparent, they simply said the protest was a failure, narrowly
attributing the closure of business and industry to alleged intimidation
of shop owners and workers by the MDC. To support this observation,
the public media highlighted isolated incidents of violence at the
expense of providing any insight on the overall extent of the strike.
Conversely, the private Press endorsed the stay-away and seemingly
agreed with the MDC’s position that the situation in the country
was deteriorating. Although they also reported on the violence,
they observed that people had stayed at home because they had heeded
the MDC’s call. To support their reports they carried rough estimates
of the number of companies that closed during the protest.
However, besides
piecemeal reports in the private media, none of the media gave a
detailed analysis of the financial losses that were incurred as
a result of the stay-away.
Before the strike, The Herald’s story (17/3), Planned
mass action timed to coincide with Club report, led the public
media’s campaign against the stay-away. The paper quoted police
spokesperson, Wayne Bvudzijena, warning that the police "will
deal with the organizers within the limits of the law and make sure
that there is peace and tranquility in the country".
Bvudzijena was not asked whether the MDC has a democratic right
to demonstrate peacefully.
That evening
ZTV (17/03, 8pm) followed suit. It reported that many people had
"castigated organizers of mass stay-aways and urged Zimbabweans
to ignore such calls", adding that some had "condemned
the MDC for failing to come up with constructive solutions to the
country’s problems". Seventeen people were interviewed,
15 of them condemned the call for a strike. The Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade Unions president Lovemore Matombo was reported as having
said, "The labour body remains committed to its Tripartite
Negotiating Forum commitments", giving the impression
that the unions opposed the strike. Only one person interviewed
in Bulawayo supported the stay-away.
Radio Zimbabwe
& 3FM (17/03, 8pm) also carried a statement from the ZANU PF
affiliated Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions urging workers to
ignore the stay-away.
On the strike’s first day, The Herald and Chronicle
(18/3) reported that government "expects all businesses
and schools to remain open today" and that commuter
bus operators had "pledged to provide public transport
services as usual…" Education Minister Aeneas Chigwedere
confirmed that schools would be open, while the Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries’ President Anthony Mandiwanza was reported as
having said industry was "not aware of any mass action
and business should continue like any other day".
The Daily
Mirror (17/3) quoted police spokesperson Andrew Phiri dismissing
the mass action as illegal. The paper then gave the impression that
there was no consensus on the stay-away within the MDC itself. It
continued with the anti-mass action slant the next day (18/3)
under the headline, Doubts over mass action. It quoted Acting
Police Commissioner Godwin Matanga claiming that police "would
clamp down on anyone who supported today’s planned strike by MDC".
The same article quoted ZANU PF’s Nathan Shamuyarira saying the
strike was "being engineered by whites…to try and create
an ugly situation".
In its comment
of the same issue, the paper described the MDC as a "directionless"
party that "thrives on chaos and painting a bad picture
abroad that Zimbabwe is going to the dogs" and labelled
the MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai "a traitor who wants
to divert attention from his ongoing high treason trial".
Conversely,
the private Press, notably The Daily News (17/3) welcomed
the call saying, "most Zimbabweans … were more than ready
for the mass action called for by the MDC". It quoted
individuals supporting the strike and expressing optimism that it
would succeed. The next day, the paper reported MDC spokesperson
Paul Themba Nyathi as having said, "the two-day nationwide
mass action would go ahead despite the police declaring it illegal".
ZBC (18/03, 8pm) dismissed the strike as a flop whose only distinction
was violence allegedly perpetrated by the MDC to stop people from
going to work: "Despite isolated attempts to disrupting
peace and tranquility, reports from around the country indicate
that it was life as usual as business remained open and Zimbabweans
reported for work in many places". 3 FM added that
this demonstrated that Zimbabweans were "not willing
to be fooled by the power-hungry party".
However, there
was no statistical evidence given to support the claim that business
operated as usual. Instead, ZTV (18/03, 8pm) buttressed the notion
that most people did not join the protest, when it reported: "Some
industry and labour representatives have distanced themselves from
the MDC’s call for a mass stay-away stating that such calls have
a negative impact on economic development initiatives".
To support this claim, the station quoted the Zimbabwe National
Chamber of Commerce economist, Luckymore Zinyama, ZCTU president
Lovemore Matombo and Johnson Manyakara of the Employers’ Confederation
of Zimbabwe. They were all quoted as expressing their reservations.
Even informal traders were said to have snubbed the MDC call, in
the same bulletin.
Also in the same bulletin ZTV (and 3FM, 19/03, 6am), quoted National
Alliance for Good Governance president, Shakespeare Maya, condemning
the stay-away. On the second day ZTV (19/03, 6pm) reported that
people in Masvingo had reported for work "but were surprised
to find that companies and shops were closed". 3FM
also reported this.
In its 8pm bulletin
the same day, ZTV attributed the closure of business to MDC’s youths.
It reported that business was "generally low as most
shops had to close due to threats from rowdy youths"
adding "few indigenous and commercial banks were operating
in the central business district". Updates on the situation
in other areas on the strike’s second day were ignored.
Like ZBC, The Herald and Chronicle (19/3 & 20/3)
highlighted incidents of violence and used them to explain why people
stayed away from their jobs. The Herald story (19/3), Two
buses, truck torched in mass action, reported that alleged opposition
party activists burnt the vehicles and stoned shops that remained
open in the high density suburbs, adding that, "workers
who wanted to go to work said they were blocked by gangs of youths".
In the same article Mandiwanza denied public media reports that
business had closed forcing workers to stay home saying, "the
business community was not part of the plot". Business,
he said, had only closed "after realizing that their
employees were not coming to work".
The Chronicle
of the same day reported that the stay-away "was
a non-event in most towns except for isolated cases of violence
in major towns". As a result of the violence, The
Herald’s comment (19/3) accused the opposition party of behaving
like "lawless hoodlums", saying it had a "wanton
disregard for the sanctity of human life".
The Chronicle
took the matter further the next day (20/3). It called on government
to "ban" the MDC "once and for
all" accusing its youths of engaging "in
acts of terrorism". The paper and The Herald
of the same day reported that "suspected MDC youths"
had used explosives to blow up shops and bridges in Kadoma.
However, the public media ignored reports of violence perpetrated
by ZANU PF supporters and State security agents against MDC supporters.
These were only reported in the private Press.
In fact, the
private papers presented a completely different picture of the strike
from the one presented by the public Press. In reporting the closure
of most businesses and industry they presented the protest as a
success. For example, in its lead story The Daily News (19/3)
stated: "Business was brought to a virtual standstill
in the major cities as the nation heeded the opposition MDC’s call
for a protest to press President Mugabe and his government to confront
the worsening economic situation and stop the violence against dissenting
voices". The article also reported on the violence
that marred the mass action. However, unlike the public media, it
did not suggest that these were reasons why people did not go to
work.
Although the
paper and other private papers noted that the stay-away was a success,
they observed that more had to be done to force government to address
the deteriorating situation in the country. For example, The
Standard (23/3) urged the MDC to bring "into the
streets of Harare hundreds of thousands of its supporters in the
biggest show ever to boot ZANU PF and its leaders out of power".
Similarly, The
Daily News (19/3) pointed out that the strike would "not
by itself" bring meaningful change and must be followed
up by a more carefully planned strategy. The Zimbabwe Independent
(21/3) said support for the strike was "near-total"
but admonished business for failing to play a more active and open
role.
On the other
hand, The Daily Mirror (19/3) quoted police spokesman Wayne
Bvudzijena saying the strike was "a failure"
characterized by "thuggish and criminal behaviour
to force people from going about their lawful activities".
And in its comment (20/3) the paper described the stay-away as "sinister
and callous" pointing out that it had achieved nothing
for Zimbabweans, as life "has not changed for the better".
Meanwhile, The Daily News and The Financial Gazette
(20/3) reported that the MDC had issued an ultimatum for government
to address its concerns "by March 31 or face civil unrest".
The Daily News quoted Information Secretary George Charamba
dismissing the ultimatum as being "inspired by [American
President George] Bush’s ultimatum to Saddam Hussein".
The Herald
and Chronicle (21/3) reported on the issue as a response
by Moyo, who said the ultimatum was "stupid and coming
from stupid people".
Similarly, ZBC
(ZTV, 20/03, 8pm & 3FM, 21/03, 6am) carried the ultimatum as
part of Moyo’s response. He was quoted as saying, "What
is ironic is that they say that government must restore the rule
of law. How dare they use lawlessness, thuggery, violence, mayhem
as a basis for calling for the restoration of the rule of law as
if they don’t know that the most basic element and requirement of
the rule of law is order?" He added; "Those
people must be where they belong and that is in prison".
After the strike the public media continued to dismiss the protest.
The Herald (21/3), Mass action barbaric, say Zimbabweans,
claimed that "Zimbabweans from all walks of life"
had condemned the mass action, adding that "victims"
of the protest were "mostly innocent kindergarten and
primary school children, workers and black-owned businesses".
The Chronicle
of the same day reported that Bulawayo residents had condemned the
strike, adding that they had asked government to allow them to acquire
firearms "to defend ourselves in future mass actions".
There was no analysis of the underlying implications of this
statement.
ZTV (20/3, 8pm)
also quoted selected members of the public condemning the event
and even calling on the government "to ban the party
(MDC)".
The public media
completely ignored the violent retribution against MDC supporters
by security agents following the stay-away.
The Daily
News (21 & 22/03) and The Zimbabwe Independent (21/03)
reported that soldiers had allegedly killed one person at a farm
owned by MDC MP Roy Bennet, in their campaign to punish perceived
MDC supporters.
It became clear that the authorities would not act against such
retribution when President Mugabe revealed, during the burial of
Swithun Mombeshora, that his government had ordered security agents
to "react promptly and with vigour" in responding
"to dangerous mischief-makers", ZBC (all
stations 21/03) and all dailies (22/3). And he added: "Let
the MDC and its leaders be warned that those who play with fire
will not only be burnt, but consumed by that fire".
Mugabe repeated this threat during his address to ZANU-PF youths.
ZTV (22/03, 8pm) quoted him saying the message he was sending to
them "will translate itself into greater vigour, greater
vigilance and greater action by my government" adding
"we shall not treat them with soft gloves any more".
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