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Anti-graft campaign or succession war?
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2004-14
Monday April 5th - Sunday April 11th 2004

A double-pronged approach characterised the government-controlled media's coverage of the effects of government's anti-corruption crusade on the political and economic fronts in the week under review. The government electronic media generally used the development to spruce up ZANU PF's image ahead of Zimbabwe's 24th independence anniversary, while the government press presented it as a committed effort by the authorities to eradicate graft. Revelations that some directors of ZANU PF companies had fled to Britain following the ruling party's decision to investigate its own companies, were craftily presented by the government Press to relay this notion. As such, these newspapers failed to ask pertinent questions about the circumstances surrounding the alleged flight of directors Jayant Joshi, his brother, Manharlal Chunibal, and their colleague, Dipak Pandya. But this was hardly surprising as they sought to absolve the ruling party of any wrongdoing by shifting the culpability to the alleged fugitive directors and giving the impression that the companies were operating independently of ZANU PF.

As a result, they were blind to other political manoeuvres, such as the current jostling for President Mugabe's post within ZANU PF, which was seen by some of the media as a factor in precipitating the probe and possibly a potential purge of some of the frontrunners in the succession issue. This angle only appeared in the private media. Following up on The Sunday Mirror's breaking news (4/4), The Herald (5/4) reported that the escape of the three directors was facilitated "by a top politician who has worked with them over the years". The paper did not name the politician. Rather, its comment of the same day likened the probe to a fulfillment of the adage, "charity begins at home," adding "President Mugabe and his Government's commitment to this war [on graft] is now beyond debate".

This fixation with endorsing government's anti-graft campaign resulted in The Herald (7 & 8/4) reducing its reports on the saga to mere follow-ups on the flight of the directors at the expense of vital information disclosing the operations and set-up of the companies. A clue on the composition of the companies' directorship only appeared in The Financial Gazette and The Zimbabwe Independent (8/4).

The papers revealed that the Speaker of Parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, long touted as President Mugabe's heir apparent, and the three fugitives were among the directors of the ZANU PF holding companies, M & S Syndicate and ZIDCO.

The Gazette thus noted that the investigation into ZANU PF investments was "focused on him [Mnangagwa] as the immediate past finance chief for the party". An unnamed "senior" ruling party official was quoted saying, "This whole thing boils down to the succession issue. As you know, Mnangagwa has always been seen as the front runner." However, not all private papers agreed. The Sunday Mirror (11/4) for example, dismissed the succession angle, saying it was "unfortunate that such perceptions should exist, worse that they should even gain currency".

The paper's opinion was echoed in The Sunday Mail (11/4). It quoted Police Commissioner Chihuri dismissing the speculation as "bizarre" and "one of the strangest things that I have ever heard". Moreover, the paper provided him with a political stage to accuse Britain of trying to "politicise criminality" by frustrating government efforts to punish those accused of economic crimes who had fled to that country: ".Britain is becoming the only country, which is establishing itself as a safe haven for our local criminals. This is being done for none other reasons but political [sic]". If the government newspapers glossed over the reasons behind government's investigations into ZANU PF companies, its electronic media was equally guilty of being used to portray the probe as part of Zimbabwe's economic achievements ahead of its 24th independence anniversary.

It was therefore not surprising that only government sources, or those aligned to it, were given platforms in these media to propagate one-sided assessments of the country's economic accomplishments. Consequently, the subjective successes of government's controversial agrarian reforms and anti-graft campaigns were sanitized and presented as the beacon of hope from which all Zimbabweans should derive inspiration and celebrate independence day (Radio Zimbabwe, 7/4, 1pm and 8pm). Earlier, ZTV, Radio Zimbabwe and Power FM (6/4, 8pm) passively quoted Information Minister Moyo claiming that Zimbabweans would celebrate Independence against a background of "high rainfalls, a successful land reform (and) a good harvest"

Said Moyo: "We have a reason to celebrate. The people are saying finally, we have taken the land. We have started using it to empower ourselves as a nation." President Mugabe, Finance Minister Chris Kuruneri and pro-government analyst Augustine Timbe were also quoted reinforcing this notion (ZTV, 6/4, 6 pm and 8pm).

While ZTV and Radio Zimbabwe (6/4, 8pm) claimed that independence celebrations came at a time "when the country's economy is on the path to recovery, thanks to government policies", they unwittingly revealed the extent of the collapse when they quoted a Reserve Bank statement saying the economy had shrunk by 48 percent since 1999.

This revelation was given more flesh by Studio 7 (6/4), which was the only the private media organisation to expose the lie of the government media's propaganda. It reported that Zimbabwe's 24th independence anniversary would be held under the worst economic conditions ever experienced with inflation currently pegged at 600 percent and unemployment at 80 percent.

Meanwhile, recent private media predictions that the Reserve Bank's anti-corruption campaign against errant financial institutions would soon be forced to compromise was seemingly vindicated by revelations that the Bank had abandoned its hard-line policy against these organisations. The Zimbabwe Independent (8/4) revealed, albeit belatedly, that the RBZ had "granted amnesty to banks caught dealing in foreign currency on the parallel market on condition that they do not commit a similar offence. "Banks fined for selling foreign currency on the parallel market were subsequently refunded the principal penalty". It also noted that the amnesty had been granted in January.

The Financial Gazette (8/4) only referred to the amnesty at the end of one of its stories, while Studio 7 (7/4) broke the story, saying the persecution of the banks was affecting confidence in the industry. However, it remained unclear why government, (as revealed by ZTV, Power FM, 6/4, 8pm, The Herald and Chronicle, 9/4), still took Barclays, Kingdom and Interfin banks to court on the same charges despite the amnesty.

In fact, The Zimbabwe Independent criticised the prosecution of banks and other companies for dealing on the parallel market, saying government should consider the circumstances that led them to engage in such transactions. It said the practice was so common that "every bank and business which has been involved in the country's economic life over the past few years could be dragged before the courts".

The directors of ZANU PF-owned Tregers group of companies echoed this view, saying that if they had not dealt on the parallel market some of their companies would have been closed (Sunday News, 11/4).

Thus the Zimbabwe Independent observed: "So long as there is a failure to acknowledge government's role in encouraging state companies to survive as best they could on whatever market they could find and allowing the private sector to do the same, the current purge will appear unfair and even vindictive".

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