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Police clampdown
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-19
Monday May 23rd - Sunday May 29th 2005

THE intensification of government's clean-up exercise - purportedly to rid the cities of criminals, illegal dealers, touts, flea market operators and illegal settlements - was reflected in the way it dominated the media during the week. The print media carried a total of 62 stories on the development, 30 of which appeared in the government-controlled Press and 32 in the private papers.

ZBH carried 110 stories (56 of them on ZTV) while Studio 7 broadcast 18 stories. Although ZBH carried most of the reports on the exercise this did not translate into a critical examination of the issue. Rather, almost all its reports took a partisan slant echoing the authorities' justification for their violent clampdown on informal traders and illegal settlements. As a result, the broadcaster failed to give a holistic picture of the human suffering caused by the exercise. Neither did it relate the growth of the informal sector and illegal settlements to the country's critical economic condition nor fully discuss the effects of the crackdown on the welfare of the victims.

Most particularly the government media avoided questioning whether it was legal for the police to order people to demolish their own homesteads at the point of a gun. For example, in only two reports - on Power FM (24/5, 8pm) and ZTV (26/5,

8pm) did ZBH fleetingly link the expansion of the informal sector to high levels of unemployment. Otherwise, the rest seemingly approved of the government action and even ironically tried to present it as sympathetic to the people's plight. Power FM (27/5, 1pm) and ZTV (27/5, 8pm), for example, reported Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo as having handed over a vending complex with 400 stalls to informal traders. This, according to Chombo, showed that "government is concerned about its citizens" and would "strive to house them in modern buildings".

The government Press' stories were cut from the same cloth. The official papers failed to measure the advantages of the government's blitz to cleanse the country of lawlessness against the social, political and economic ramifications of the exercise. Rather, they seemed to subordinate the colossal human suffering of the victims to the purported virtues of the operation. This was summed up by The Herald (23/5), whose editorial argued that it was better for families to be "prejudiced of income by the on-going blitz...than the nation as we should never compromise the national interest on the altar of economic expediency".

The Herald comment was one of seven editorials that were used by the government-controlled Press to justify official opinion on the purported dignity of the operation. Their partisan stance was also mirrored by the way these papers relied on government and police voices at the expense of independent commentators as shown in Fig 1.

Fig 1 Voice distribution in the government-controlled Press

The official papers' dependence on official comment to shape their editorial agenda resulted in The Sunday Mail (29/5) justifying the clampdown on the basis that "the fact that the President has thrown his weight behind the clean-up exercise" meant it was " a well-thought programme."

Notably, although most members of the public - including the victims of the blitz - were cited as "welcoming" this unprecedented assault on Zimbabwe's urban population, they were actually quoted raising concerns about the manner in which they were evicted from their business and residential premises without recourse.

Although ZBH tried to seek comment from a wide range of sources as Fig. 2 shows, its tone remained biased in favour of government's actions. For instance, while ZBH displayed a rare moment of professionalism by balancing comments from members of the public, who condemned the 'clean-up' with those that were for the action, the reporters' narratives were largely in support of government.

Fig. 2 Voice distribution on ZBH

The government media's supine coverage also resulted in their failure to expose policy contradictions that characterized the operation. For example, while The Herald (24/5) reported Harare City Council as giving a three-month ultimatum to property owners to either demolish their shacks, "illegal" extensions and tuck shops or legalise them, the next day the paper (25/5) reported the police as having demolished the same tuck shops, among other structures, in three Harare high density suburbs.

Similarly, ZBH failed to reconcile Chombo's statements on ZTV's Face The Nation programme (26/5, 9.30pm) that government would give the public "June and July" as notice to legalise their structures with the destruction of some of the dwellings the following morning. The extent of the massive humanitarian disaster caused by the exercise was only revealed in the private media, which criticized government's actions.

The private papers carried a total of 20 news reports and 12 editorials on the issue while Studio 7 had 18 stories. SW Radio Africa also carried extensive and alarming reports (26 &27/5). Unlike the government-controlled media, the private Press balanced official opinion with alternative views sought from civic and political groups as illustrated in Fig 3.

Fig 3 Voice distribution in the private Press

Although Studio 7 largely carried anti-clampdown comments it balanced this with pro-government sentiments from the police and ruling party. See Fig 4

Fig. 4 Voice distribution on Studio 7

SW Radio Africa (27/5) also tried to balance its reports by seeking comment from government officials and the police, who were hostile towards the station.

Contrary to the impression in the official papers that victims of the blitz endorsed the operation, those quoted in the private media were angry. The Zimbabwe Independent (27/5) story, Flea market traders face bleak future, which depicted the uncertainties facing former flea-market operators, summed up the hopelessness and indignation of victims quoted in the private media. Political and civic groups such as the MDC, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), The Zimbabwe National Pastors' Conference (ZNPC), The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) and Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa (SAHRIT) who were given platforms in at least seven stories carried in the private Press to air their views.

For example, The Standard (29/5) devoted its front-page story to highlighting the civic society's concerns, saying law enforcement agencies had been very "provocative, offensive and unsympathetic" to the affected people. Likewise, Studio 7 quoted five independent commentators raising similar views. For example, it (25/5) quoted a member of the Combined Harare Residents Association Legal Committee Dewa Mavhinga saying it was "immoral" and "illegal" for council "to evict people without due notice".

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