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Local government issues
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2006-3
Monday January 16^th 2006 – Sunday January 22^nd 2006

THIS week all media exposed the collapse of basic amenities in the country’s cities, characterised by water cuts, yawning potholes, dysfunctional street lighting and mounds of uncollected refuse. The government-controlled papers carried 36 stories on the issue, while the private Press published 19 reports. ZBH carried 51 stories and the private stations aired six.

However, the official papers’ coverage was marred by selective criticism of those behind the crumbling service delivery system in the country’s towns. For example, while these papers generally criticised the government-appointed Harare commission for failing to provide basic services for residents, they exonerated government from blame.

Instead, 14 of the 36 stories they carried on the matter were glowing pieces on government’s ad hoc interventionist role, purportedly aimed at restoring normal service delivery at many of the non-functioning municipalities.

The thrust in such coverage was illustrated by The Herald (16/1) comment, Minister Chombo does a sterling job, which simplistically presented Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo’s "recent intervention in urban local authorities" as driven by the desire to steer "the entities onto solid efficiency paths".

Instead of questioning why government only acted against MDC led councils while turning a blind eye to those run by the ruling party, the paper simply claimed that the opposition mayors of Harare, Mutare and Chitungwiza had been dismissed for failing to deliver "and not because they belong to the MDC". It thus urged Chombo to "just ignore detractors, who in their blinkered thinking, want everyone to believe that there is a purge on opposition-run municipalities".

However, the paper’s lopsided interpretation of government action seemed to contradict its (19/1) editorial censure of the Harare Commission, accusing it of serious dereliction of duty. It "hoped" government would either force Harare’s administrators "to do their job" or replace them with "a new set of commissioners".

The paper’s outrage followed its earlier revelations (17/1) that the commission was pushing government "to double the national debt so that it can lend the city almost $15,8 trillion to finance its turnaround programme, public lighting, waste management and road maintenance".

Wondering why council was not already providing these services from proceeds "it charges the people of Harare", the editorial urged the commission to "get real" by getting down from its "virtual castle in the clouds" and stop imposing such an "intolerable burden on the people of Harare".

The Sunday Mail (22/1) was equally critical of the city authorities’ poor management of Harare. It accused the commissioners of creating more health problems for the city by relocating the city’s main vegetable market from Mbare to Harare’s City Sports Centre.

Noted the paper: "The city fathers have simply transferred the problems from Mbare Musika to the City Sports Centre. As long as they have not pointed out their shortcomings in running the Mbare Musika site, they will not hope to yield any better result from the temporary site."

However, ZBH did not display such candidness. The broadcaster simply highlighted problems bedevilling Harare without taking the authorities to task over the deteriorating situation. For example, it merely reported on the "persistent" and "unexplained" water cuts in Glen Norah, Glen View and Budiriro without seeking an explanation from the Harare commission (16/1, 8pm).

It was only through a Press conference addressed by Water Resources Minister Munacho Mutezo that ZBH audiences got a hint on the causes of the problem. Mutezo attributed the shortages to the commission’s failure to pay the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) for water and the ongoing cleaning of Morton Jaffray water treatment plant.

No attempt was made to seek answers from the commission on why it had failed to pay ZINWA from rates it collected from residents. Neither did the station inquire why the commission had allowed "one metre thick" sludge to accumulate at Morton Jaffray. Instead, it supinely quoted Muchezo trying to shift the blame to "industry" and "commerce", saying they should not "discharge effluent into water bodies".

And to portray the authorities as taking measures to address the water crisis, Spot FM (16/1, 8pm) claimed government was "doing all it can" to ensure the availability of water.

ZBH’s reluctance to subject the city authorities to scrutiny manifested itself in its failure to question Harare council’s plans to establish more markets, purportedly to decongest Mbare Musika. ZTV (18/1, 6pm) and Spot FM (19/1, 8pm) simply presented the plans as providing a solution to Mbare’s problems without finding out whether the proposed sites had basic facilities for vendors.

Although Spot FM (17/1, 1pm) reported a senior Harare official, Madenyika Mangwenjere, "requesting individuals and business" to provide council with tractors to cut grass, it treated the issue as a mere announcement and avoided interpreting it as indicative of the commission’s incapacity to provide basic services for residents.

Although the official Press criticised the commission for failing to run the city, it, like ZBH, avoided exploring government’s culpability in the matter.

Instead, the government Press tried to depict government’s interventionist policies in the administration of local authorities as paying dividends. For instance, The Manica Post (20/1), in a story based on the self-evaluation of the Mutare commission by its chairman, Kenneth Saruchera, noted how the council had already "made strides in restoring the city’s beauty after being in office for two weeks". The achievements, said Saruchera, included repairing six refuse trucks, ordering 5 000 plastic bins and engaging 100 grass cutters "who are already cutting the grass in most suburbs".

ZTV (20/1, 6pm) carried a similar story.

The government media’s supine tone in handling local government issues was not surprising as they relied heavily on official voices compared to other pertinent commentators. See Figs 1 and 2.

Fig 1 Voice distribution on ZBH

Notably, most of the ordinary people were merely quoted highlighting problems they were facing and not discussing the source of the crisis.

Fig 2 Voice distribution in the government Press

The private media were forthright in their assessment of the problems bedevilling local municipalities and didn’t allow government’s administrative bungling to escape scrutiny.

As exemplified by the Zimbabwe Independent (20/1), they noted how government’s selective interference in local government issues was premised not on improving service delivery but on political imperative to purge the MDC-led councils while propping up those run by ruling party functionaries.

The paper contended that "the crimes for which the mayor of Chitungwiza was sentenced to removal from office…are certainly no worse nor bigger than those committed by…(the) commission running the affairs of the capital".

The Standard (22/1) agreed, noting that the cholera outbreak was clear testimony of how Harare, once dubbed the "sunshine city", had "degenerated at the hands of the government-appointed commission".

SW Radio Africa (16/1), Studio 7 (17/1) The Financial Gazette (19/1) and the Mirror stable also carried reports pointing out the authorities’ shortcomings in relocating Mbare Musika to the City Sports Centre.

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