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Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-26
Monday June 26th 2006 - Sunday July 2nd 2006

THE government media maintained a tight lid on the underlying implications of developments relating to the local and international search for a solution to Zimbabwe’s worsening political and economic crises.

The 47 stories they carried on the matter (ZBH [24] and government papers [23]) failed to give a background to the problems or provide a coherent picture of the various initiatives taking place to resolve them.

For example, the seven stories ZBH carried on President Mugabe’s scheduled meeting with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan over the Zimbabwe crisis at the AU summit in the Gambia were just event reports that neither gave full details of the meeting nor its agenda.

As a result, ZBH’s audiences – and certainly those of the official papers – would have been surprised at these media’s sudden disclosures over the weekend that former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa had been appointed mediator in what they claimed was a bilateral dispute between Britain and Zimbabwe.

Who appointed him and when it was done remained unsaid.

ZTV reporter Reuben Barwe only reported Annan as willing" to give full support" to Mkapa’s "mediation efforts" (1/7,8pm) without elaborating on what he really discussed with President Mugabe during their 30 minute-plus meeting.

Similarly, the next day The Sunday Mail (2/7) avoided addressing the real purpose of the meeting save to celebrate that "the two appeared jovial during and after the meeting, contrary to speculation in the private media that Mr Annan would table the ‘so-called initiatives’ on Zimbabwe during the meeting".

Earlier, The Herald’s faceless columnist Nathaniel Manheru (1/7) tried to pre-empt the import of the planned Mugabe/Annan meeting alleging there was no need for any "hullabaloo" about it because "African courtesy has it that when Africans meet, they greet each other, talk and exchange pleasantries".

Those who only rely on government media for news must therefore have been confused as to what these Western initiatives were or what Manheru was insinuating.

In fact, the official media’s vague revelations on the international community’s overtures over the Zimbabwe crisis were not isolated. They started boiling over earlier in the week when these media carried several stories that hinted at the international community’s growing disenchantment with the situation in the country when they reported Mugabe saying he would not accept any intervention in the Zimbabwean crisis.

For example, ZTV and Spot FM (29/6,8pm) cited him telling ruling party supporters at the state funeral of Information Minister Tichaona Jokonya that Zimbabwe did not need rescuing, adding that reports of a collapsing economy were merely " a notion painted by Western detractors".

The government dailies (30/6) also reported him expressing the same sentiments saying, "Zimbabwe is not about to die" and therefore did not "need the so-called initiatives to rescue it" although it would "welcome financial assistance".

Notably, the official media failed to investigate what had prompted Mugabe to say these things or linked them to his subsequent meeting with Annan.

Instead, these media carried several reports that passively amplified Church leaders’ promises to work with government in addressing the crisis affecting the country.

Even then, the stories did not provide details on what the Church initiative entailed or question its chances of succeeding when previous efforts had failed. Otherwise, the reports were mostly piecemeal regurgitations of the authorities’ statements that either attacked their perceived "detractors" or spelt out what they expected of the Church in its bid to ‘restore’ Zimbabwe.

For example, The Herald and Chronicle (26/6) passively depicted the National Day of Prayer – organised by some Church groups and government "to pray for the nation in a show of unity aimed at Zimbabwe’s restoration" – as a precursor to the Church’s efforts to solve the crisis. But the papers did not explore how exactly the creation of such an annual event of the church, which was this year hijacked by government, would tackle the deteriorating situation, largely blamed on bad governance.

Instead, they gave excessive space to President Mugabe’s call for "oneness between the government and the Church" while simultaneously attacking his critics within the clergy, especially Archbishop Pius Ncube.

And rather than investigate what transpired during the 30-minute "closed door meeting" between Mugabe and Church leaders ahead of the prayer meeting, the papers unquestioningly reported Bishop Trevor Manhanga echoing Mugabe’s statements by castigating "detractors and short-sighted citizens who cannot see any good in our nation".

The next day, The Herald and Chronicle (27/6) passively expanded on these claims.

In addition, ZBH carried 13 other stories that basically glossed over Zimbabwe’s pariah status by projecting the country as still enjoying good trade relations with the other countries despite Western-imposed "sanctions".

ZBH’s uncritical handling of the topic was reflected in the way it relied on the ruling party’s interpretation of the developments as illustrated in Fig 1.

Fig. 1 Voice Distribution on ZBH

Although the government papers’ sourcing pattern appeared relatively balanced (see Fig 2) most of its sources merely glossed over the unfolding political developments.

Fig 2 Voice distribution in the government Press

Except for the two stories in the Mirror stable, the rest of the 19 reports the private media carried on the subject (Studio 7 [five], SW Radio Africa [one] and private papers [13] critically examined the country’s crisis and diplomatic efforts to solve it.

They interpreted Mugabe’s rejection of international intervention in the country as a pre-emptive gesture ahead of his meeting with Annan, which they viewed as part of the international community’s diplomatic initiative for an economic rescue package for Zimbabwe in return for economic and political reforms.

For example, Studio 7 (29/6) quoted analyst Chris Maroleng contending that by his statements Mugabe was trying to show that Zimbabwe did not need "the internationalisation of the issue through the bringing in of the UN or a multilateral approach, but a resolution between the partner who he views as the primary problem in the Zimbabwe crisis, that is the British…"

The Zimbabwe Independent agreed, viewing Mugabe’s denial of a crisis in Zimbabwe as an attempt "to wriggle off the hook of international diplomacy".

Earlier, Studio 7 (28/6) cited another analyst dismissing the Annan/Mugabe meeting as inconsequential on the basis that there was very little the UN Secretary -General could achieve since he was now in the twilight zone of his tenure.

However, like the official Press, The Sunday Mirror (2/6) dismissed such reports saying they were part of the South African media’s attempts to "try and set an agenda for continental Heads of State" attending the AU summit.

Echoing Mugabe’s claims, it argued that although Zimbabwe was experiencing "extremely difficult times", the "notion that the country is on the verge of total collapse or that it demands immediate and direct intervention on the part of the African Union before it descends into complete chaos and anarchy might, however, be a trifle misplaced". In any case, it added, the AU and the UN "have more pressing issues to deal with on the continent".

And while the official media and The Daily Mirror (26/6) passively reported on the Church initiative, the Independent’s Muckraker criticized religious leaders for not only being at the "forefront of promoting support for government", but also leading "attacks on churchmen who cannot defend supping with politicians" presiding over Zimbabwe’s appalling human rights abuses.

The Standard columnist Pedzisayi Ruhanya (2/6) echoed similar views.

The private media also carried at least three stories that depicted continued local and international pressure on the Harare authorities. They included the passing of a motion by the Canadian Parliament asking the country’s Ministry of Justice to look into ways of how to indict Mugabe for crimes committed against humanity.

The official media censored these developments.

The private media’s sourcing pattern is shown in Fig 3 and 4.

Fig 3 Voice distribution in the private Press

Fig. 4 Voice distribution on Studio 7

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