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A
good newspaper is always the enemy of bad government
Angelique
Serrao, The Saturday Star (SA)
September 02, 2006
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=15068
There
aren't many people who inspire journalists with awe. Perhaps a fault
of the profession, newspaper men and women are often a cynical bunch,
all too aware how easy it is for those in power to succumb to the
machinations of that which made them great in the first place. But
when Geoffrey Nyarota walks into a room of journalists, there is
a hushed respect for an old newshound whose beliefs in the greatness
of the profession go far beyond the bottom-line business approach
to which so many editors in Western newsrooms subscribe. This is
a man who has been thrown in jail many times, whose life has been
threatened, whose newspaper's press was bombed and eventually closed
down, and who was exiled from the country of his birth, Zimbabwe,
by Robert Mugabe's dictatorial regime. And yet, despite every attempt
to keep his mouth closed, Nyarota will not shut up.
If
Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies believed they had finally managed
to silence the editor of Zimbabwe's former independent daily newspaper,
the Daily News, when it closed down three years ago, they were sorely
mistaken. Living in the US, teaching young journalists at the Bard
College in upstate New York, Nyarota penned his first book, Against
the Grain: Memoirs of a Zimbabwean Newsman. Beginning in 1977, when
Nyarota was a teacher in a region that was filled with Zanu PF guerrilla
activity, the story travels through his life and experiences in
a country whose people survived a war dreaming of freedom. And just
when they thought they had achieved that goal, they were betrayed
by the very regime that was supposed to loosen the bonds that bound
them. "I wrote this book because I had a story to tell. When I was
introduced to people, especially outside of Zimbabwe, and we got
talking about my experiences, most people said to me: 'I hope you
write a book about that'," Nyarota said while in South Africa this
week.
"I
have only had one extremely negative reaction so far and that was
from Professor Jonathan Moyo (a former Zanu PF member). He rubbished
the book and said it was trash. But this book sits in judgment of
people like Moyo and Mugabe, so it has to be taken in that context.
I hope these people read the book, but I did not have them in mind
when I wrote it. This book is my perspective of Zimbabwe. As a journalist
and editor of four newspapers that were located in four different
parts of the country, I believe I was well positioned to observe
what was happening. Even before being a journalist, I was a schoolteacher
in an operational zone, so I saw more than many Zimbabweans, and
I believe that what I have written will come as a surprise for many
- even some of my contemporaries." Nyarota paints a picture of a
people who have been disappointed in a regime that was, for many,
their only hope.
His
description of the day of independence in Against the Grain highlights
the sense of euphoria that surrounded the country when Zanu PF was
voted into power in 1980: "On 18 April, the reticent boy from Kutama
was sworn in as the first prime minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe.
At the stroke of midnight, the heir to the British throne, Prince
Charles, watched sombrely as the Union Jack was lowered for the
last time and the magical strains of Zimbabwe, specially composed
and performed for the occasion by Jamaican reggae king Bob Marley,
ushered in an era of independence, self-rule and freedom for the
black majority. "From Rufaro Stadium in Harare to the furthest outposts
of the land between the Zambezi and the Limpopo it was a night of
joy and celebration over the fulfilment of a long-stranding national
dream and the sublime belief that milk and honey would now flow
freely over earth still clammy with the blood of thousands." Instead
of a regime that became corrupt many years after being voted into
power, Nyarota believes the Mugabe government went wrong almost
from the start; the people just failed to see what was happening
because "we were ready for a hero". "Mugabe fooled us all. There
was so much euphoria after independence that we didn't subject him
to any scrutiny. It is only now; the picture that is emerging is
somewhat inconsistent with the aura around him since independence,
much to the disappointment of many Zimbabweans."
The
cracks in the regime began to show only when Nyarota was editor
of the state-owned Chronicle newspaper in 1998. He uncovered an
enormous corruption scandal, dubbed Willowgate, that involved many
Zanu PF leaders who were using their positions to obtain luxury
cars and then reselling them at a huge profit. At this point he
was noticed by Mugabe, and was soon fired from the Chronicle's newsroom.
"Having guided Zimbabwe to nationhood in 1980, Mugabe could easily
have defied the Third World stereotype of independence followed
by grinding poverty, unbridled corruption and gross abuse of power.
He had the benefit of learning from the mistakes of many countries
that had gone that way before. Remarkably, however, in little more
than two decades, Mugabe reduced a prosperous nation, once the breadbasket
of southern Africa, to a basket case, mired in violence and lawlessness
and shunned by the global community," Nyarota laments in his novel.
But Nyarota always dreamt of a free Zimbabwean newspaper that lent
a voice to people who, under the constant state of press censorship,
were unable to be heard. It took him many years to form the Daily
News, but when his dream came true in 1999, he didn't expect it
to outsell established dailies in the space of just a few years.
Despite
being doomed for closure almost from the start, Nyarota believed
that his paper had a very important role to play in freeing his
country from oppression. "The media plays a very significant role
in changing things. In 2000 the Daily News had a role in the elections.
The MDC emerged riding on the wave of the Daily News, so much so
that Zanu PF genuinely believed it was pre-planned. I would dearly
have loved to be the editor of the Daily News under an MDC government,
so that I could have had the chance to keep them on their toes.
A good newspaper is always an enemy of a bad ruler." Asked why Nyarota
continued to carry on with his paper when he was jailed numerous
times, when his life was threatened and his journalists were beaten
up, the newsman is convinced that journalism is more than just news;
it is an ideal that should never be given up. "There was a public
expectation that this newspaper was going to achieve something politically
for the benefit of the people. It was a paper people looked at to
rescue them. You don't just abandon a paper that was in a way a
political ideology. If we had not continued we would have betrayed
the trust of the people, so in a way we became the prisoners of
our own creation.
"We
had an unwritten contract with the people to fight on their behalf,
and the journalists just kept on going. My biggest frustration was
my total inability to protect them; all I could do was tell them
not to take risks. It is so unfortunate that, after all that sacrifice,
the paper still closed down." Nyarota comes from a breed of editors
who put the story before profits. "Critics accused me of being too
idealistic in expecting that a paper like the Chronicle or Daily
News could force transparency and accountability on so powerful
and corruption-ridden an administration as Mugabe's. "I lost count
of how many times I was reminded that it was folly to believe in
the mission rather than the business of journalism. But in my view,
if the success of a publication such as the Daily News were to be
measured only in terms of the bottom line, with total disregard
for its influence on public opinion, journalism would be an exercise
in futility." It is his strong beliefs that make it so frustrating
for Nyarota to be living in exile. He believes that if he were in
Zimbabwe right now, he could be playing a role in changing the country.
"The future inspires me. I don't believe this current crisis is
the final destiny of Zimbabwe. Something has to change, and this
change has to be spearheaded by Zimbabweans themselves, so that
they have propriety over that change.
"But
I am getting less and less optimistic. When I left Zimbabwe in 2002,
I thought something would happen in the not-too-distant future,
but now I am getting more and more disappointed. I thought Zimbabweans
were backed against a wall, but we are a very enterprising people
- we find more walls to lean on, even when none are left. I think
Mugabe has used his security forces effectively to scare the people."
Nyarota believes his people are now concerned with personal survival
and it is this instinct that is forcing thousands to flee over the
border into South Africa. "I think President Mbeki in particular
does not seem to have the commitment to solve the current crises
in Zimbabwe, when in my view he is well placed to deal with Zimbabwe.
He has squandered a real opportunity to gain good credit in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe has in turn squandered a good opportunity to die a hero,
although he will go to Hero's Acre when he dies," Nyarota chuckles,
referring to the graveyard where freedom fighters are buried. "People
are coming to South Africa, where there is promise. They're surviving
in Joburg better than in their own country."
Nyarota
finds himself a disappointed man who believes his people failed
as a nation to exploit a golden opportunity to develop their country.
"This morning I was amazed at the construction happening at Johannesburg
International and I was jealous in a way that this could be happening
in Harare, if we had played our cards right." After all that has
happened to him, Nyarota hopes to set foot on Zimbabwean soil again.
"It really is just a matter of time. But now this book, well it's
an added dimension. When I left Harare I was convinced I had used
up all my nine lives, I have just used up another. My return would
have to be timed with the departure of his Excellency, a certain
Robert Mugabe. "If all Zimbabweans stood together, even hardened
Zanu PF leaders would abandon ship, but we aren't always united
and we miss that opportunity."
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