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Urban decay - the blame game Part II
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-44
Monday November 14^th 2005- Sunday November 20^th 2005

THE government media continued to present collapsing public services as being the fault of MDC led-councils. The official Press carried 24 stories on the matter while ZBH aired 47.

These media superficially interpreted problems affecting the cities, especially Chitungwiza, as emanating from the inefficiency of MDC mayor Misheck Shoko, while simultaneously endorsing government’s interference as necessary to resolve the crisis, which has seen 14 people die from waterborne diseases.

For example, ZTV (14/11, 8pm) claimed that since government’s "intervention" in Chitungwiza, the "basic service delivery system was progressing well" as "Seke is now receiving water 12 hours a day and 60% of sewer blockages (in Chitungwiza) have been attended to".

However, ZTV seemed to contradict itself when, the following day, it reported that its "survey" had revealed that "no change had happened in Chitungwiza". In the same bulletin ZTV portrayed government as unwavering in its commitment to addressing the deteriorating situation in the cities by passively announcing that the authorities would establish "an inter-ministerial committee to find a lasting solution to the problems in Chitungwiza and Harare". There was no explanation how this committee would relate to Chitungwiza council, the government-appointed Harare commission and the governor of the two cities, all tasked with the responsibility of their administration.

Instead, in an effort to show how Chitungwiza was hampering government efforts to rectify the situation, The Herald (18/11) and Spot FM (18/11, 7am) passively quoted Harare Metropolitan Governor David Karimanzira accusing the council of failing to tender for the supply of sewerage pumps when government had provided funds to pay the suppliers.

Likewise, ZTV (20/11, 6pm) passively quoted President Mugabe accusing Shoko of refusing "to implement government plans to rectify problems facing the city", adding that "government will move in" to address the situation. That evening Local Government Minister Ignatious Chombo was quoted on Spot FM (20/11, 8pm) giving Chitungwiza council a "48-hour ultimatum to show significant changes in terms of management and service delivery to ratepayers".

The Sunday Mail (20/11) also carried Mugabe’s threat.

But while the government papers supinely approved the authorities’ censure of Chitungwiza, they did not give the council an opportunity to answer the allegations, nor did they question why government was not demanding the same standards from Harare’s Commission, especially as the capital is also plagued by water and sewerage problems, among others.

Neither did the government media question why the authorities were victimising Chitungwiza council for the water crisis when The Herald reported (18/11) that it was actually the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) that was failing to supply the town and Harare with adequate supplies, resulting in "rotational water cuts".

The private Press tackled the problems more thoroughly, projecting the rot in urban areas as symptomatic of the country’s deteriorating situation in 13 stories they carried on the topic.

For example, The Daily Mirror (16/11) reported the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) arguing that problems besetting Harare "should be tackled in the context of the problems affecting the country politically and economically", saying unless these were addressed, the principal problems would remain.

The Standard (20/11) comment shared these sentiments.

In addition, the private Press gave space to Chitungwiza’s mayor Shoko to comment. The Independent (18/11) quoted him claiming that the ruling party was trying to find excuses to dismiss him to cover up for its own corruption, particularly the misappropriation of a $2.5 billion loan meant for Chitungwiza’s operations, which the Reserve Bank handed to former Chitungwiza MP and ZANU PF official, Christopher Chigumba.

The three stories the private stations carried on local government largely focused on CHRA’s protests against government’s intention to extend the Harare commission’s term of office.

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