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The IMF debt
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-33
Monday August 29^th – Sunday September 4^th 2005

THE media, particularly the government-controlled ones, generally failed to report holistically on Zimbabwe’s partial payment of its overdue arrears to the IMF or its general indebtedness to other international institutions in the 46 stories they carried on the topic.

The bulk of the stories appeared in the broadcast media, with ZBH carrying 25, while four featured on Studio 7. The government Press carried nine reports and the private papers had eight.

Although ZBH carried most of the reports, it hardly provided analytical detail on the matter. Rather, the government broadcaster, as illustrated by ZTV (31/9 8pm), simplistically hailed government’s payment of US$120 million out of the US$295 million it owes the IMF as a "source of immense national pride", which demonstrated the country’s "unwavering commitment" to servicing its debt and engaging the international community in its economic turnaround programme.

Despite quoting the central bank as having said the "modest effort by Zimbabwe" to settle part of its debt "does not in any way nullify" the ongoing negotiations over a US$1 billion loan the country was seeking from South Africa, ZTV did not question the authorities on why the repayment had taken so long to be made if government was "committed" to servicing its debt, or how they had raised the money from our "own resources".

Instead, ZBH stations (1/9, main bulletins) passively quoted Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa claiming that government has always been committed to settling its debt as illustrated by the fact that it has, since 1980, paid its arrears including those "accrued by the colonial regime". There was no attempt to establish the veracity of Murerwa’s claims. Rather, ZTV allowed National Economic Consultative Forum official Nicholas Kitikiti to conjure up a conspiracy theory that if Zimbabwe was expelled from the IMF, following the part payment, "it will not be because the country is failing to honour its obligations" but because of "political objectives, which are being sought" through the "US’s so-called Zimbabwe Freedom and Democracy Act". But how the threat of the country’s expulsion from the IMF and the US’s Zimbabwe Democracy Act were linked remained a mystery.

The government Press’s nine stories were equally uncritical.

For instance, although The Herald (1/9) and The Sunday Mail (4/9) interviewed RBZ governor Gideon Gono, they hardly used the opportunity to obtain a clearer picture on why Zimbabwe had been failing to pay its arrears to the institution from February 2001 until March 2004, or name the "exporters and free fund holders" that the authorities got the money from.

Instead, they allowed themselves to be drowned in Gono’s florid, evasive and officious explanations. For example, instead of setting the record straight publicly on who exactly provided the funds used to offset the IMF balance of payments, The Sunday Mail only quoted him: "…I challenge anyone who has got an interest to know how we accumulated this money to come and have a cup of tea and I will be able to show them."

The government media’s passive handling of the topic was reflected by its reliance on official voices and pro-government commentators as exemplified by ZBH’s sourcing pattern. See Fig 3.

Fig 3 Voice distribution on ZBH

Apart from the IMF voices, all the sources the government broadcaster accessed toed the official line.

While the official media did not expose government’s source of funds, the private media, as illustrated by Studio 7 (1/9) and the Independent (2/9), revealed that Gono had paid the IMF through liquidating foreign accounts owned by corporate organizations.

In addition, Studio 7 (2/9) noted that, contrary to the notion created by the government media, Zimbabwe’s membership with the IMF was still under threat despite the part payment. It quoted economist Godfrey Kanyeze saying Zimbabwe could still be expelled because it had not "really met all its obligations".

The Sunday Mirror (4/9) echoed similar views.

The Independent quoted analysts cautioning that the debt repayment "would not open the floodgates for Harare to access funds from the IMF and the World Bank." They noted that Zimbabwe’s economic problems would remain despite the payment because no new balance of payments, lines of credit, or direct foreign investment would flow in as a result of the payment.

It argued that until Zimbabwe "makes political reforms, abandons human rights violations… and unsustainable economic policies…the IMF, WB, WTO (World Trade Organisation) and Nepad, among others, would not assist the country."

Kanyeze made similar observations on Studio 7 (2/9).

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