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US ambassador Christopher Dell's speech
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-18
Monday May 1^st 2006 – Sunday May 7^th 2006

ONLY the private media fully reported on US ambassador Christopher Dell’s speech in which he criticised the country’s poor human rights record, particularly the erosion of freedom of expression, which he said was stalling economic development.

He was addressing students at the National University of Science and Technology to mark the World Press Freedom Day.

The Financial Gazette (4/5), for example, quoted Dell noting that in societies that upheld freedom of expression, "open debate can flourish" enabling government to come up with policies that "maximize the effectiveness of economic players" and "instill confidence in domestic and international investors to act in such a climate".

To illustrate the correlation between civil liberties and economic prosperity, he pointed out that almost all SADC countries that have "become more participatory, democratic and tolerant of free expression" had "registered real per capita GDP growth" of between 2 and 6% in 2005 while Zimbabwe, which did not "embrace sound economic and democratic reforms", had recorded a negative GDP rate of "minus 6.5%".

A full text of his speech appeared in The Standard (7/5).

Typically, the government media either censored his statement or carried articles that dismissed outright his observations.

For instance, the Chronicle (4/5) gave emphasis to the questions Dell was asked during the event. His comments on the importance of free speech were only mentioned in passing and in the context of his alleged "grilling" by students over US’ "demonisation" and "imposition of sanctions" on the country.

The next day, the paper rubbished the ambassador’s arguments saying "much as Press freedom is one of the fundamental tenets of democracy, it is subordinate to the sovereignty of any nation" and as such, government "cannot allow the likes of Mr Dell who habour a neo-liberal agenda on Zimbabwe to use that "freedom" to further their ulterior motives".

The Herald’s vituperative columnist Nathaniel Manheru (6/5) and The Sunday Mail article, Ambassador Dell’s selective amnesia, were equally dismissive of Dell’s statements.

But while the official media tried to project his observations as hypocritical and driven by the US’ determination to soil Zimbabwe’s image, the private media recorded seven fresh incidents of rights violations. All the cases stemmed from the arrest of civic activists, university students, school children, members of the public and journalists from Botswana on allegations of breaching sections of the repressive POSA, AIPPA and the Miscellaneous Offences Act.

In fact, The Standard reported the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum revealing that there was a "sharp increase" in cases of torture "involving police officers and soldiers". In March alone the Forum recorded 75 such incidents.

The government media ignored these issues.

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