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Local government decay and cholera
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2006-7
Monday February 13^th – Sunday February 19^th 2006

THIS week the media, particularly the government controlled media, generally failed to report adequately on developments affecting urban councils and new outbreaks of cholera.

The government-controlled Press devoted 21 stories to these issues and the private Press 15. The broadcast media aired 34, of which 29 featured on ZBH while the remaining five were on private radio stations.

But despite carrying most of the stories, mainly exposing the circus surrounding the government-appointed commission’s administration of Harare, the government media barely discussed the real causes of the problems. For example, none of their reports questioned the basis on which Harare Commission chair Sekesai Makwavarara wanted to occupy and furnish the mayoral mansion at residents’ expense. Neither did they seek comment from the authorities to account for this confusion since they were responsible for imposing the commission on the city.

Otherwise, The Herald simply carried Makwavarara’s plans to spend $35 billion on decorating the mayoral mansion (13 & 16/2) and the infighting in the commission (15 &17/2) as mere event reports.

And although ZBH (13 & 16/2, main bulletins) quoted Harare residents and the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) condemning Makwavarara’s extravagance and poor service delivery in the city, it would not view these issues as an indictment of government’s failure to superintend its commission.

Such passive coverage allowed The Herald (17/2) to provide its readers with another event report, this time of Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo’s defence in Parliament of the Harare chaos, saying government had "confidence" in the Makwavarara-run city although it would continue "monitoring events".

Earlier, ZTV (16/2, 6pm) tried to shift the blame by passively reporting Harare residents criticizing their MPs for "turning a deaf ear to their plight". It allowed this blatant attempt to discredit opposition party legislators to pass.

The government media’s failure to report the commission’s poor service delivery professionally also manifested itself in their coverage of the spread of cholera in the country. Their stories generally failed to view the epidemic as a national problem deserving urgent attention. For example, The Herald (13/2) reported the five new cholera deaths in Epworth as another one-off event that occurred after the victims "may have been infected after drinking contaminated water at a funeral".

No serious concerns were raised on the persistent outbreak of the disease, whose reported national death toll now stands at about 30. Instead, the paper drowned its audiences in official rhetoric on how government had brought "the situation under control" without asking why the pestilence continued to spread if indeed it had been contained.

ZBH was the worst in this regard.

While Spot FM and Radio Zimbabwe inexplicably ignored the news, ZTV (13/2, 8pm) buried the casualties in a report in which Health Minister David Parirenyatwa called on Zimbabweans to be "on the high alert in the wake of cholera outbreaks" in the country. It would not even report when the deaths occurred.

However, The Sunday Mail (19/2) was candid.

It wondered why the authorities were only reacting to deaths rather than "act proactively" to prevent the outbreak of the disease, adding that as long as unsanitary conditions prevailed in Epworth the lives of the people in the area "would remain as precarious a position as the Balancing Rocks that greet people as they enter the settlement".

Typically, the official media depended heavily on official pronouncements in their coverage of the topic as captured in Figs 1 and 2.

Fig 1 Voice distribution on ZBH

Fig 6 Voice distribution in the government Press

The private media also under-covered the cholera outbreak. They carried five stories on the matter, three of which appeared on the private radio stations while two were in the Press. While the Independent and SW Radio Africa (14 & 17/2) reported the latest Epworth cholera deaths in the context of the Harare commission’s skewed priorities, the stories on Studio 7 (13/7) and in The Daily Mirror (17/2) were mainly based on official statements.

However, all private media continued to criticise the confusion at Town House, which, they contended, had taken a heavy toll on service delivery. But whereas the Mirror stable simply ended in chastising the commission, the Independent, Studio 7 and SW Radio Africa went further. For example, the weekly’s columnist, Muckraker, squarely blamed Chombo for the chaos, saying he was responsible for ushering Makwavarara into Town House "through the back door". Consequently, added the columnist, Makwavarara was "Chombo’s personal creation" that he must deal with after he had "imposed" her "as part of a temporary structure pending elections".

The columnist also pointed out that it was "misguided" for people to call for government "intervention" when it was "already involved up to its neck".

SW Radio Africa (17/2) also quoted analysts blaming Chombo for the mess in the capital.

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