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Fireworks in fantasyland
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-35
Monday August 28^th 2006 - Sunday September 3^rd 2006

THIS week the official media used the staging of the Harare Agricultural Show to overstate alleged improvements in the country’s agricultural fortunes. The government Press carried 37 stories on the subject while ZBH aired 75. Most of the stories focused on the purported success of the show, which the official media presented as a reflection of the authorities’ concerted efforts to arrest the decline in agriculture.

It was in this context that these media passively reported Botswana President, Festus Mogae, praising Zimbabwe’s farming capabilities at the official opening, saying it was the best in Southern Africa. For example, ZBH (28/8, evening bulletins) and The Herald (29/8) passively quoted Mogae saying the country’s agricultural sector "has improved greatly" as evidenced by its 2005/6 agricultural output, adding, if there was a farming competition, Zimbabwe "would win".

No evidence was given to demonstrate this alleged success.

Instead, these media simply buried problems of critical shortages of inputs and farming equipment troubling the sector in sanitised projections on the coming season. For example, throughout the week they reported government, various agro-companies and service providers promising to support farmers without assessing their capacities to deliver.

The Sunday Mail (3/9), for instance, did not say whether the 6.5 million litres of diesel that government said it had released to farmers was enough to carry out their agricultural activities, especially when last season the farmers reportedly received "a 20 million allocation". Neither did it or The Herald (30/8) establish whether the 36 550 tonnes of hybrid maize seed and 7 860 tonnes of open-pollinated varieties that secretary for Agriculture Simon Pazvakavambwa said were available would satisfy national demand.

The official media’s reluctance to openly discuss the authorities’ mismanagement of the sector, resulted in Radio Zimbabwe (1/9, 6am) and The Herald (1/9) project government’s policy U-turn on farms covered by Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPAs) as reflective of its commitment to resolve problems blighting farming. In fact, The Sunday Mail simplistically celebrated the move, saying it showed that Zimbabwe "is an investor friendly country" therefore exposing "the lies being peddled by Britain that Zimbabwe is a lawless society".

Although the official media’s sourcing pattern appeared diverse as shown in Figs 1 and 2, their reports remained uncritical of government’s agricultural policies.

Fig 1 Voice distribution in the official Press

Fig 2 Voice distribution on ZBH

In contrast, the private media was unflattering on the state of the country’s agricultural sector in the 19 stories they carried on the subject (private papers [12] and private electronic media [7]). They generally highlighted farm ownership chaos, poor preparations for the coming season, acute shortages of essential farming inputs and how government’s unstable policies had led to food insecurity.

The Zimbabwe Independent (1/9), for example, cited experts estimating production as having plummeted by 70 percent since the government-instigated 2000 land invasions.

In another story, the paper reported ZANU PF senator Vitalis Zvinavashe admitting as much. It quoted him criticising government for "not addressing the issue of food security", expressing his disappointment over the "lack of preparedness for hunger that is stalking the nation". The former army commander reportedly questioned the worth of independence when people are "hungry 26 years on" and challenged government to "open archives and see how they (colonial government) used to do it".

To further expose the country’s precarious food levels, Studio 7 (31/8) revealed that Zimbabwe had imported 88 000 tonnes of maize since May to supplement its stocks. The station cited a US embassy statement revealing that America had provided almost US$400 million worth of food assistance to Zimbabwe since 2002.

In a related matter, New Zimbabwe.com (30/8) and SW Radio Africa (31/8) reported that ZANU PF had muscled its officials into key positions in the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society in order to control the organisation’s food distribution.

Subsequently, the agency (4/9) revealed that the society’s president and ZANU PF official, Edmore Shamhu, was already abusing his office by handing over Red Cross vehicles and motor bikes to ruling party activists for use in the party’s campaigns for the coming rural council elections in Mashonaland Central. The story provided details of the vehicles and named ZANU PF officials who were using them.

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