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Scapegoating and witch-hunting
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-33
Monday August 14^th 2006 - Sunday August 20^th 2006

THIS week the official media buried the root causes of Zimbabwe’s economic crisis in official rhetoric blaming it on the country’s ‘detractors’. Almost all their reports on government’s strategies to resuscitate the economy were either based on the authorities’ self-evaluation of their plans or passive amplifications of the policy statements.

This scarcely left any room for alternative views on the matter.

For instance, ZBH bombarded its audiences with President Mugabe’s endorsement of the central bank’s currency reforms as the panacea to the country’s ailing economy during the Heroes and Defence Forces’ Day commemorations.

ZTV actually devoted 40% of 191 minutes it allocated to its 8pm bulletins (excluding sports and weather segments) to the events. Radio Zimbabwe and Spot FM aired 24 stories on the occasions. In addition, ZBH stations carried live and repeat coverage of the events.

Such excessive coverage of these annual events however, did not reflect any critical assessment of Mugabe’s statements, particularly his pronouncements on government’s plans to revive the economy.

Instead, the stories generally magnified his attempts to divert attention from the real causes of the country’s economic distress, which he narrowly attributed to ‘enemies’ of government.

Radio Zimbabwe (14/8, 8pm), for example, quoted Mugabe hailing the currency reforms, saying they were part of "various traps" government had set to "catch the enemies" who were "disrupting" the economy’s revival.

There was no explanation on who exactly "the enemies" were, or how simply lopping three noughts off the old currency would improve the economy.

The government press’ 30 stories on the Reserve Bank’s monetary reforms were equally unquestioning. They also simply allowed Mugabe to blame everyone outside of government for Zimbabwe’s economic ills, and allowed him to claim his administration as having prescribed the right medicine for the country’s ailing economy.

The Herald and Chronicle (15/8), for example, quoted him narrowly attributing the economic meltdown to "unjustified and illegal" Western ‘sanctions’, including "our people", whose "patriotism and sacrifice" lacked the "principles of freedom, justice and self-determination" of the fallen freedom fighters whom we "honour" and "celebrate today".

The papers further cited him threatening to deal with these "economic saboteurs and enemies of our economic turnaround strategies", who he accused of having "chosen to worship the god of wealth…shown unbridled greed, corruption and self-aggrandisement’.

No efforts were made to scrutinise Mugabe’s claims or query his use of pre-independence nationalist rhetoric to conceal his government’s poor economic record.

Earlier, The Herald (14/8) used similar tactics. Its editorial, Honour Heroes with deeds, blamed the country’s hardships on ‘sanctions’ and presented government’s turnaround strategies as simply a continuation of the country’s struggle against Western imperialism.

Said the comment: " We celebrate the fact that regardless of the overt and covert attempts to subvert our independence over the past six years, we have remained resolute and staved off the neo-colonial designs."

Besides attributing the country’s difficulties to the alleged foreign interference in the economic affairs of Zimbabwe, it "hailed" the central bank’s efforts to "curb the activities of domestic…saboteurs who have engaged in ruinous activities that contributed to the current economic malaise".

In fact, the paper’s determination to criminalize Zimbabweans for the country’s economic malaise was exemplified by its front-page story, which reported the public as having now circumvented the Reserve Bank’s cash roadblocks by "smuggling billions of dollars in trains" as these were not searched.

No shred of evidence was presented to support these claims.

Instead, the story then tried to project two Mutare businessmen as criminals after they were reportedly found with large sums of cash in old currency. To further build a case against them, the paper carried a front-page picture showing part of the "water-damaged" $11 million in "$50 and $100 notes", which it claimed had been "recovered" from one of the businessmen.

But while the official media criminalized the public, they avoided openly discussing the chaos and rights abuses that characterised the currency change-over exercise.

Instead, ZBH simply carried 36 promotional pieces on monetary reforms, which it flaunted as testimony of government’s commitment to resuscitate the economy.

In fact, the official broadcaster’s blind promotion of the central bank’s currency changes resulted in it repeatedly airing misleading advertisements which gave the impression that the new bearer cheques would result in low commodity prices thereby giving people "more bite for (their) buck" (ZTV, 19/8, 8pm).

And despite carrying reports highlighting that some areas had "not received any new notes" (ZTV, 16/8, 6am), and the fact that old bearer cheques were still circulating five days before the currency change deadline (Radio Zimbabwe 16/8, 1pm), none of the stations viewed these issues as a reflection of the chaos surrounding the reforms.

The official media’s failure to subject government’s economic policies to critical examination also manifested itself in their coverage of the authorities’ plans to control fuel prices.

Instead of analysing the implications of such a move on fuel procurement and the economy in general, they carried eight stories that passively celebrated the move as justifiable.

For example, The Herald (19/8) did not question government’s explanations that its fixed fuel price of $325 000 ($325 new currency) per litre was "in line with devaluation" when the Zimbabwe dollar was only devalued to $250 000 ($250 new currency) per US dollar.

Rather, the paper’s editorial merely contended that " ending fuel subsidies and setting of a fixed price for privately procured fuel are welcome developments…provided foreign currency can be found to import what Zimbabwe needs". It did not examine whether this was possible given the economic conditions in the country.

Nor did it seek comment from fuel dealers.

The official media’s lop-sided coverage of these issues was clearly illustrated by their dependence on official voices as shown in Fig 1 and 2.

Fig 1 Voice distribution in the government Press

Fig 2 Voice distribution on ZBH

Notably, although most of the ordinary people quoted highlighted the problems they were facing due to currency reforms, their concerns were only mentioned in passing.

The private media was more probing in most of the 52 stories they carried on government’s monetary strategies. Eighteen of these appeared in the private electronic media while the rest featured in the private papers.

However, like the government Press, the Mirror stable, merely regurgitated Mugabe’s Heroes’ Day speech blaming others for the country’s economic decline. The Daily Mirror (15/8) comment even urged Zimbabweans to "take Mugabe seriously".

Other than echoing government updates on the Reserve Bank’s blitz on money laundering, the Mirror group also ignored the serious implications of the currency reform witch-hunts and related human rights abuses perpetrated during the exercise.

But the rest of the private media remained critical. For example, SW Radio Africa (14/8) quoted MDC official Morgan Femai dismissing Mugabe’s speech saying he "kept repeating the lies that government had arrested economic saboteurs" without explaining how his government would "deal with constant power blackouts, water cuts and imminent bread shortages."

The Zimbabwe Independent (18/8) agreed, noting that in the "absence of forward looking policy pronouncements, Mugabe resorted to using threats against perceived opponents in an attempt to divert attention from problems he created".

The paper also queried the logic of government plans to establish an economic crimes court to try economic offenders when there was already an anti-corruption commission, whose existence was yet to be justified.

Earlier, The Financial Gazette (17/8) disputed Mugabe’s assertions that the travel ban imposed on him and his lieutenants was responsible for the suffering of ordinary people. Instead, argued the paper: "The masses are suffering because the ruling elites have become more brazen in …looting national resources…since being given the cold shoulder by Western countries."

And while ZBH created the impression that Project Sunrise had been embraced by Zimbabweans, Studio 7 (14/8) revealed that human rights groups were planning to "legally challenge the Presidential Powers on the basis of which police have confiscated money from those holding more than [$100 million]."

The station (17/8) also reported members of the public as having complained about the inconvenience caused by roadblocks mounted to search for money.

Online news agencies also carried three stories exposing the chaos caused by currency changes.

The private media’s sourcing patterns are captured in Figs 3 and 4.

Fig 3 Voice distribution in the private Press

Fig 4 Voice distribution in the private electronic media

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