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The economy
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-24
Monday June 12^th 2006 – Sunday June 18^th 2006

THIS week the government media continued to divert attention from Zimbabwe’s economic crisis by presenting alleged business deals signed between Zimbabwe and mostly China, under the government’s "Look East" policy, as already bearing fruit.

For example, of the 56 reports that ZBH carried on the country’s ailing economy, 38 (68%) of them were glowing stories about these deals, including the purported virtues of government’s National Economic Development Priority Plan (NEDPP). Eighteen stories (32%) tried to highlight Zimbabwe’s deteriorating economic fortunes.

Even then however, these just focused on the symptoms of economic decline such as the ever-rising cost of living without asking why, for example, if Zimbabwe was allegedly attracting "lot of [investment] interest from Asian countries" (ZTV, 14 /06,8pm and SFM, 13/06,7am), the economic crisis continued to intensify.

The pattern remained unbroken in the government papers.

They carried 14 stories that simplistically portrayed the development ‘deals’, facilitated during Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s recent visit to China, as the panacea to the country’s economic ills, while simultaneously refusing to address the source of the problems blighting the economy.

Amid this euphoric coverage, these media failed to evaluate the full economic implications of the deals, their total value and terms of reference. Neither did they identify or sift through official pronouncements on the matter so they could differentiate between deals that were actually clinched and mere diplomatic etiquette.

Instead, they passively lumped together every facet of Mujuru’s visit to China as an eloquent expression of that country’s economic support for Zimbabwe.

Those relying on these media for their information were deprived of relevant details surrounding the Sino/Harare deals. These included the "sealing" of a "US$1,3bn power deal" to "establish coal mines and three thermal power stations" to solve Zimbabwe’s deepening power crisis (Herald 12/6; ZTV 12/6, 7am); the "supply of broadcasting transmission, irrigation, tillage and construction equipment" by Beijing and the formation of a "joint venture mining company" to be formed by the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and Star Communications of China (The Herald 14/6).

In an effort to gloss over the country’s poor credit rating, The Herald (12/6) buried deep in its story concerns raised by China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC) – which has previously provided Zimbabwe with passenger/military planes and scanning machines – over Harare’s failure to service its debts. It also tried to obscure the gravity of the matter by unquestioningly quoting Mujuru downplaying CATIC’s anxiety, saying government would use the "country’s abundant mineral resources" to service its debts since it was "under siege…as a result of illegal economic sanctions".

Notably, the paper did not query the economic ramifications of mortgaging the country’s natural resources. Neither did it question the fate nor economic benefits of previous agreements between China and Zimbabwe, or relate them to earlier criticism of Chinese goods by MPS, which they claimed had flooded the country to the detriment of local industry.

Instead, the government media narrowly resorted to regurgitating official pronouncements calling for the "strengthening of economic cooperation between Zimbabwe and China" or pontificating, without elaboration, on how "Zimbabwe is poised for an upturn in Foreign Direct Investment inflows as the Look-East policy begins to show results" (ZTV, 12/06,8pm).

In fact, The Herald (14/6) passively quoted Mujuru urging "Zimbabwean companies to fulfill their obligations and meet the set deadlines", adding, "within the next 60 days something must be done. We should be at it".

Apart from their glorification of the Zimbabwe/China deals, the official media carried several stories marketing NEDPP. The reports especially used the awarding of town status to the border town of Beitbridge as an indication of the programme’s success.

The Herald (16/6), for example, surrendered considerable space to President Mugabe’s tour of Beitbridge "to assess some development projects", which it submissively presented as part of government’s implementation of NEDPP. But how exactly the projects would resuscitate the economy, as envisaged by NEDPP, remained unclear.

Even Mujuru’s visit to China was also used to further endorse NEDPP. For example, ZTV (18/6,6pm) and Spot FM (18/6,8pm) reported: "China Development Bank has pledged to work with the Zimbabwean government in economic development by supporting NEDPP and other economic programmes."

The official media’s uncritical approach was reflected in their heavy dependence on official sources as shown in Fig 1 and 2.

Fig. 1 Voice distribution on ZBH

Fig. 2 Voice distribution in the government Press

However, the private Press remained unimpressed by government’s management of the economy and the potential benefits of the Sino/Zimbabwe deals. For example, Studio 7 (12/6) (the only bulletin we monitored) reported commentators criticising the deals, saying they lacked transparency. Opposition MDC official Tendai Biti claimed the transactions violated constitutional requirements since they had not been ratified by Parliament as required under "Section 3" of the Constitution.

Economist John Robertson agreed, noting, "the actual mechanics of each transaction have not been revealed" to the nation.

The Financial Gazette (15/6) column, Diamonds and Dogs, also did not share the government media’s optimism over the alleged economic agreements. It viewed Mujuru’s visit to China as "ill-fated" as it only yielded a "pathetic US$6million". It questioned why the Chinese "want to buy into something yet to be proven (in the Zambezi Valley) when they can easily finance an already bankable proposition in Rio Tinto Zimbabwe’s Sengwa (coal) project". To further dampen hopes that the economic treaties would yield results, the paper wondered why Hwange Colliery management, "who are supposed to be the joint venture partners (of the energy and coalfield deals) were not there at the signing ceremony".

It thus concluded that the official media were simply trying to "validate what are clearly fly-by-night rainmaking shenanigans on the part of the deal’s architects".

The Zimbabwe Independent (16/6) was equally sceptical. It noted that government’s plans to set up a coal-powered electricity generation plant in the Zambezi Valley with the help of the Chinese was bound to "fall in the same basket of wander projects" just like "at least 10 stalled capital-intensive (schemes) in the power generation sector". These included the US$2,5 billion Batoka Gorge hydro-electricity plant and the Sengwa thermal plant, which government has been "toying with" for more than 10 years.

In fact, The Sunday Mirror (18/6) seemed to pour more cold water on the deals’ prospects when it cited a ZimTrade report showing that Zimbabwean exports to China had drastically declined from "US$1,08billion in 2003 to US$1,8million in 2005".

The private papers continued to expose the country’s gloomy economic outlook and critically examine NEDPP. The Gazette, for example, revealed that government’s domestic debt had shot up to "$22,36 trillion at the end of last month". It quoted economists warning that it would fuel "inflation", which would derail government’s efforts to revive the economy through NEDPP.

The story was part of the 36 stories the private media carried on the economy. Their critical approach to the topic was mirrored by their attempts to seek alternative comments on the subject. See Fig 3.

Fig 3. Voice distribution in the private Press

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