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Cholera and municipal issues
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-2
Monday January 9^th – Sunday January 16^th 2005

DEBATE on the cholera outbreak continued to attract media attention in the week, much of it in the context of municipal service delivery and government’s reaction to the disease.

The government Press carried 13 stories on these issues, while the private papers carried eight. ZBH aired 72 stories on the issue and other related developments (ZTV [34]; Spot FM [24]; Radio Zimbabwe [14]), while Studio 7 broadcast three reports and SW Radio Africa one. None of the media followed up the cholera outbreak adequately, as their reports lacked independent investigation, relying on official sources to provide information relating to the severity of the outbreak in the country.

Neither did the stories in the official media examine the authorities’ knee-jerk reactions to the crisis or question the adequacy of government’s emergency plans, epitomised in the ‘temporary’ relocation of Harare’s main vegetable market from the squalid, overcrowded Mbare Musika to the makeshift site at Harare City Sports Centre.

Almost all the updates on the spread of the disease in the official papers were buried in reports that narrowly fingered vendors, particularly those in Mbare, as the source of the pestilence, while simultaneously stressing how the authorities had taken effective action to contain the disease.

For example, The Herald (9/1) concealed revelations of more cholera infections in Harare inside a story hailing government’s purge of the urban poor under Murambatsvina as having helped prevent the spread of the disease. However, the paper (10/1) did not reconcile the alleged virtues of Murambatsvina with the reason why Harare City Council closed Mbare Musika, apparently to clean up the market in Mbare and prevent the spread of cholera.

The paper’s claims resonated with those made on Spot FM (10/1, 7am) and ZTV (10/1, 8pm). Instead of quizzing the authorities’ readiness in dealing with the disease, the two stations passively allowed local government officials to claim victory over the outbreak, alleging that it would have been "a major catastrophe" had government not embarked on its "clean-up" exercise last year.

ZTV quoted one official, Simbarashe Madungwe saying: "We thank God for Operation Murambatsvina. We could not have been able to contain the disease".

But the government media did not ask the authorities why, after the so-called "clean up", Mbare Musika had remained an eyesore, or why it had taken a cholera outbreak to jolt them into action. Neither did these media view the matter as symptomatic of the failure by the government-appointed commission running the affairs of Harare to provide adequate public services – particularly refuse collection.

Although The Herald (14/1) raised some pertinent questions in its interview with Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, the reporter generally failed to extract useful information. For example, the minister was allowed to make the absurd claim that government had failed to "clean up" Mbare Musika during Murambatsvina because the market was "not visible by day" as delivery lorries "nicodemously" came "at night" and left in the "morning".

Such an unquestioning nature was also evident in The Herald of the previous day and on ZTV (13/1, 6pm and 8pm) on the announcement by Chombo that government would set up "teams" that would "work 24 hours" to "collect refuse, fill potholes and repair street lights in the eight districts of Harare".

These media simply presented the claim as indicative of government’s commitment to addressing the myriad problems affecting Harare and ridding it of cholera without viewing it as an unwitting admission that the Harare Commission had failed to provide these services.

Neither did they question whether the $10 billion for refuse collection and the 80 000 litres of fuel procured for the city by government "to improve service delivery" and "to contain further cholera outbreaks" in Harare would suffice, or even whether this ad hoc intervention by government represented any rational policy. The official media also failed to reconcile the authorities’ proposed course of action with the public’s concerns.

For example, while ZTV (13/1, 6pm and 8pm) reported vendors, commuter omnibus drivers and residents of the Belvedere neighbourhood expressing displeasure over the long grass, piles of garbage and a lack of shelter, ablution and storage facilities at the makeshift market, it never raised these issues with the authorities.

Instead, The Herald (13/1) carried an article by presidential health advisor, Timothy Stamps, wondering why there was "panic" over the cholera outbreak when "simple hygiene by the carer" can "bring an epidemic quickly under control".

He also claimed that the public would be "better off relying on public health workers" than seeking medication from private sector hospitals as they "don’t treat it correctly (using vaccinations which do not work and antibiotics which cause carriers to develop)".

However, The Sunday Mail carried a candid analysis of the problem in its comment, City leaders’ dereliction of duty unacceptable, which blamed the Harare Commission for the city’s deteriorating service delivery.

It implored government to "start firing probing questions" at commission officials as they are "doing no better than the councillors and mayors who have been dismissed in Chitungwiza and elsewhere".

However, the rest of the official papers’ stories on the issue toed the official line as reflected by their reliance on official voices at the expense of any independent investigation. See Fig 1.

Fig 1 Voice distribution in the government Press

While ZBH quoted more voices (Fig 2) all the official and alternative voices were quoted portraying government as having prudently dealt with the cholera outbreak. The public were mainly quoted complaining about council’s poor service delivery.

Fig. 2 Voice distribution on ZBH

The private media also failed to follow-up adequately on the cholera outbreak in the 12 stories they carried on this and related municipal matters, three of which were carried by Studio 7, one by SW Radio Africa and the rest by the private papers.

This skewed sense of news was illustrated by The Daily Mirror (11/1) and The Standard (15/1), which relegated reports on new infections to their health sections.

But while the Mirror revealed that the number of infections had risen from 181 to 284, The Standard gave no figures.

Both however, blamed the authorities for failing to contain the outbreak, including attempts to shroud the extent of the outbreak in secrecy.

The Daily Mirror (10/1), for example, blamed Harare and Chitungwiza councils for not providing timely publicity about the disease "leaving the majority of the urban population in the dark and prone to increased infections".

The Standard quoted Zimbabwe Medical Association president Billy Rigava accusing the ministry of health of failing to "contain a preventable disease" adding that the outbreak was a "clear indication of the collapse of the country’s health delivery system".

Rigava contested official claims that the outbreak was under control, saying this could only be possible if government "addresses issues regarding the provision of clean running water and ensures refuse collection and the removal of rubble" caused by Murambatsvina. Studio 7 (10/1) and SW Radio Africa (10/1) cited other commentators expressing similar views.

In addition, The Standard and Studio 7 (13/1) noted that government’s relocation of vendors to the City Sports Centre was not a solution as it merely transferred "the (health) hazard from Mbare to the city centre" as the new site was "unsuitable for trading activities".

The Financial Gazette (12/1) and the Zimbabwe Independent (13/1) were reticent on the cholera outbreak. However, they did carry two stories condemning Chombo’s selective dismissal of MDC-led councils as undemocratic.

The private Press’ sourcing pattern is shown in Fig 3.

Fig 3 Voice distribution in the private Press

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