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Murambatsvina and the Bulawayo Election
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-30
Monday August 8^th – Sunday August 14^th 2005

THE government media’s continuing reluctance to examine the disastrous effects of government’s recent blitz on the urban poor was evident again during the week.

For example, all 14 stories ZBH carried on the subject were glowing portrayals of Operation Garikai. However, no comprehensive evidence was provided to back up the purported success of the reconstruction programme.

Power FM (10/8,8pm) epitomised such coverage. It reported, "government is pleased with the progress of Operation Garikai in Lupane…despite shortages of water, skilled personnel, fuel crisis," but failed to provide statistics and other details of the "progress."

The pattern remained unbroken in the government Press.

Nine of the 11 stories these papers carried on the matter dutifully presented the reconstruction programme as being achievable within government’s August 31^st deadline. The remaining two reports were on the authorities’ justification of the military’s involvement in Garikai and calls on police to "descend on illegal vendors", The Herald (8 & 9/8).

For example, The Sunday News unquestioningly quoted Charamba, pro-government editor of New African magazine Baffour Ankomah and a member of an obscure United States-based Towards an Africa Without Borders, Mukoma wa Ngugi, all praising Garikai’s "progress" during a tour of construction sites in Bulawayo. The only hindrance to the programme, Charamba told the paper, were "minor constraints caused by an erratic supply of building materials".

Power FM (12/8, 6am) and ZTV (13/8, 6pm) also quoted Ankomah and wa Ngugi raising similar sentiments. The two’s comments, including those of ZANU PF, the army and alternative voices, (see Fig 4) merely echoed government’s opinion.

Fig. 4: Voice distribution on ZBH

However, the 16 stories the private media carried on the topic (Studio 7 [9] and the private Press [7] belied ZBH’s projections that Garikai was progressing well.

The Standard (14/8) claimed that the "completion of houses before August 31 was impossible" as the reconstruction programme was facing "a serious shortage of artisans, bricks, diesel and other essentials". In addition, it revealed that only 31 houses "were near completion" in Bulawayo, while "more than 900 pegged stands remained untouched".

The paper also reported on a survey carried out by ActionAid International and Combined Harare Residents’ Association to assess the devastation caused by Murambatsvina in Harare, which revealed that more than 90 percent of the people in Harare’s high-density suburbs were affected by the purge.

In addition, the paper reported visiting US Ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture, Tony Hall, saying the blitz, which was "entirely avoidable", had worsened Zimbabwe’s "desperate" food situation. Hall noted that victims of the operation were "hungry" and "don’t have enough to keep themselves warm".

Studio 7 aired six reports that conveyed similar sentiments. Two of them exposed how government was frustrating South African churches from helping Murambatsvina victims with food and other materials. As a result, said Studio 7 (10/8), the SA church leaders had asked Mbeki to intervene. The Standard and Independent reported on the matter too.

Studio 7 (9/8) also cited an unnamed UN special investigator accusing the government of continuing to evict the poor from slum dwellings despite "a UN report condemning such evictions and statements from Harare that it has stopped the operation". The government media ignored these issues.

The Independent highlighted that, contrary to the official dismissal of the UN’s report on Murambatsvina, the High Court had affirmed some of its findings when it ruled on August 2 that police conduct during the purge in Bulawayo was "unlawful". According to the paper, the court ruled, "the confiscation and seizure of goods from vendors interfered with individual’s property rights".

It also quoted the MDC claiming that Murambatsvina had displaced many supporters, which would erode its support base in the Bulawayo mayoral election.

The story was one of only six reports carried by the private media on the election. The others comprised a Standard report on voter apathy, Studio 7’s two campaign stories featuring both ZANU PF and the MDC, and another report announcing the election result, won by the incumbent MDC mayor, Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube.

The government media carried more stories with ZBH broadcasting 14 reports, while the government papers carried six. However, this did not translate into informative reports on the mechanics governing the poll.

Like the private media, the official media did not carry any information on the state of the voters’ roll or provide details on the location of polling stations. Neither did they give logistics on the deployment of the electoral staff, including the identity and number of election observers and monitors that oversaw the poll.

However, Power FM (11/8, 8pm & 12/8, 6am), the Chronicle (12/8) and Independent reported on the arrest of 12 MDC youths allegedly "for obstructing traffic and distributing campaigning material to traffickers" (Power FM).

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