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Food security and agricultural chaos
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-38
Monday October 3^rd – Sunday October 9^th 2005

THE government media continued to give a one-sided view of the country’s dwindling food supplies and the state of the country’s readiness ahead of the 2005/6 farming season in the week.

Most of the 102 stories the public media (government Press [25] and ZBH [77]) carried on the subject were mere official pronouncements that attempted to depict government in favourable light rather than properly inform the public of the crisis in reality.

For example, the 16 stories the official Press carried on agricultural issues mainly glossed over the chaos in the sector by passively rehashing government promises to support farmers with inputs and financial support. For example, the Chronicle (3/10) unquestioningly reported Agribank making available $15 billion for livestock production and (6/10) that the RBZ had allocated at least US$5 million to fertiliser companies to "boost production". But neither of the stories investigated whether just "throwing ad hoc money" at these sectors was enough to revive them.

The government media employed the same reporting tactics in their stories on the country’s precarious food security as they barely went beyond official assurances that government had taken measures to ensure adequate food supplies. For example, ZTV (4/10, 6 & 8pm) passively reported the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) acting chief executive officer Samuel Muvhuti downplaying reports on food shortages in the country saying his Board was "allocating adequate maize to millers to ensure that there was enough food in the country". The only problem, Muvhuti claimed, was "some companies (that were) hoarding basic commodities they manufacture".

Muvhuti made similar claims on ZTV (6/10, 6 & 8pm) adding that the country has been "receiving a lot of grain" following the signing of contracts with a "number of foreign grain suppliers to bring close to two million tonnes" of maize. Muvhuti did not reveal the amount of grain the country has imported so far nor was he asked to. The Herald (5/10), Radio Zimbabwe and Power FM (5 & 6/10, main bulletins) carried similar reports.

These media also ignored a new spate of invasions of the few remaining white-owned farms. The Sunday Mail and The Sunday News only reported on the alleged eviction of resettled farmers by former commercial farmers who were reportedly taking advantage of a recent High Court ruling nullifying government offer letters to settlers following the constitutional amendment nationalizing agricultural land.

The private media however, presented a different picture.

SW Radio Africa (6/10), for example, reported that State Security and Land Reform Minister Didymus Mutasa, Agriculture Minister Joseph Made and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, had ordered 25 of the 40 white farmers in Makoni district to stop operations and vacate their properties. The station also revealed that the husband of High Court judge Justice Annie-Marie Gowora had forcibly occupied a farm in the same district.

Studio 7 (6&7/10) carried similar reports. It noted that the issue had caused divisions in government with RBZ Governor Gideon Gono, Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa and Vice-President Joseph Msika opposing new land seizures, while a group of "hardliners" that included Mutasa and Chinamasa supported them.

The Financial Gazette bemoaned the chaos surrounding land reforms, saying the "latest seizures" not only belied "official claims that land reform was a well planned exercise, but also expose it as a typical case where the disposal of time was surrendered merely to the chances of incident".

While the official media gave the impression that government was in control of the food situation, Studio 7 (5/10) reported an unnamed source claiming that Harare had secretly asked the UN to distribute food aid "on condition that the arrangement should not be publicised". However, a WFP official expressed ignorance on the matter.

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