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Freedoms curtailed
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-37
Monday September 11^th 2006 - Sunday September 17^th 2006

THE government media’s failure to expose the continued erosion of the citizens’ basic rights was illustrated by their coverage of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) protest against economic hardships, and human right abuses.

These media either censored the issues or merely amplified the authorities’ threats against the labour body without viewing them as a reflection of government’s intolerance of dissent.

This was evident in the 21 stories they carried on the attempted ZCTU protest. Of these, 18 featured in the official Press while ZBH aired only three.

For example, in total disregard of basic journalistic practice, these media merely magnified official propaganda discrediting the call for mass action by weaving conspiracy theories around the protest. It was in this context that they passively portrayed it as ‘illegal’ without demonstrating how.

ZBH exemplified this professional docility.

Despite having initially censored reports on the ZCTU’s calls for protests, Spot FM (12/9, 1pm) quoted police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka threatening that the police would "deal" with the ZCTU as their demonstration was "illegal".

Said Mandipaka: "If any people think they can gang up and demonstrate in contravention of the provisions of (POSA) definitely the long arm of the law will deal with them and the police are prepared to deal with any malcontents…"

The station allowed these threats to pass as normal.

Similarly, The Herald (12/9) unquestioningly reported Labour Minister Nicholas Goche dismissing the planned action as "mind-boggling", saying the labour body had a "hidden agenda, which they intend to achieve using the issue of the (Poverty Datum Line) as a smokescreen to hide their true intentions".

Without challenging him to substantiate these claims, the paper (13/9) allowed war veterans’ information secretary retired Major James Kaunye to expand on the conspiracy. He described the ZCTU demonstration as "a Western- influenced opposition thrust to cause unrest and necessitate an ungovernable situation in the country", adding, "as liberators of the country, war veterans could not allow such counter-revolutionary acts to prevail…"

The Chronicle echoed similar views. It accused the ZCTU leaders of having "lost the workers’ mandate" by meddling in opposition politics at the expense of workers who pay subscriptions (11 & 15/9).

However, the official media did not explain the "political" nature of the demonstration, nor did they condemn the violence with which the police put an end to an entirely placid attempt to protest publicly and the subsequent brutality of the assaults on those who were arrested.

Instead, the government papers blindly described the demonstration as a "damp squib" that failed to take off due to workers’ refusal to heed the ZCTU’s call. No effort was made to relate the heavy presence of the police to the demonstration’s ‘failure’.

Neither did they view the crushing of the protest as a violation of constitution and international human rights conventions, which guarantees citizens’ freedoms of assembly and expression.

They also simply suffocated the vicious nature of the arrests and the beatings in detention of the union leaders who had been arrested.

In fact, readers of the government Press only got a hint of such abuses through The Herald report (16/9) on the court appearance of the arrested protestors.

Even then, the paper depicted the beatings as hearsay, simply noting that ZCTU secretary-general Wellington Chibhebhe was "reportedly" in serious pain from an "alleged" assault by the police during detention and could not therefore attend a court hearing.

But ZBH was the worst in this regard.

The broadcaster completely ignored the arrests on the day they happened only for ZTV (14/9,7am) to sneak the matter onto its news bar the following morning. To make matters worse, it simply reported: "Just 18 people arrested in Harare including ZCTU and MDC leaders".

There were no other follow-up reports, so those who rely on the broadcaster for information would still be unaware of the security authorities’ savage assaults on the union leaders and MDC activists.

While the voice distribution in the official papers (Fig. 1) gave the impression that they fairly tackled the subject, all the alternative and business voices merely echoed the government stance. For example, all the industrialists that the papers quoted criticised the ZCTU mass action. The Herald (13/9), for example, quoted Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries President Callisto Jokonya even threatening to "deduct a day’s salary" from those who would participate in the demonstration.

Fig 1 Voice distribution in the government Press

Like the public Press, the Mirror group vilified the ZCTU, portraying its protests as unjustified.

For example, on the day of the planned demo, The Daily Mirror (13/9) carried a front-page comment that dismissed the action as a "publicity stunt", which "smacks of testing the State’s temper".

Said the paper: "The planners of the marches evidently hope to score political points by raising fundamental constitutional questions about the marchers’ freedoms of movement and association".

Even as it emerged that the police had crushed the demo, the paper still argued that it had flopped because the ZCTU had "failed to persuade people to join in its intended nationwide mass protests".

The brutal beatings that the leadership of the labour body suffered at the hands of state security agents were censored.

Only audiences of the other private media were given the reasons for the union’s protests, the peaceful nature of their expression, and the full extent of the police brutality, which they interpreted as part of government’s attempts to strike fear into those critical of its mismanagement of the country’s affairs.

They carried 20 stories on the subject and other related human rights abuses. The private papers featured five, while their electronic counterparts carried the remaining 15.

These media attributed the failure of the protest to the excessively heavy police presence and the violent arrest of the unionists.

They also reported the brutal assaults on the ZCTU leadership in detention.

Studio 7 (14/9), for example, reported lawyer Alec Muchadehama revealing that his clients had been severely beaten by the police while detained at Matapi police station.

The Zimbabwe Independent and New Zimbabwe.Com provided more details of the beatings the following day.

The Independent, for example, quoted the activists’ lawyers as saying they had been "shocked" at what they saw at Matapi police station where their clients had suffered "broken limbs" and were "grappling" to get them released so that they could receive medical attention.

At the weekend, The Standard (17/9) carried a story with narratives from some of the activists on their ordeals at the hands of state security agents, including condemnation of the beatings by at least 10 local and international organisations. To buttress its story, the paper carried a front-page picture of a heavily bandaged Chibebe sitting on his hospital bed.

Equally disturbing were the comments of the Acting Information Minister Paul Mangwana to the police violence, which highlighted the contempt with which the authorities hold for human rights.

Studio 7 (14/7) quoted him disdainfully justifying the police brutality saying, "You apply any reasonable force to deal with elements of criminality as the situation demands" and "you don’t disperse an illegal demonstration using whistles, you use baton sticks."

THE private media also reported on the earlier arrests of scores of other protestors, mostly women from the civic rights organization, WOZA, and students, who had also attempted to demonstrate peacefully against intensifying economic hardships and human rights abuses. These media also broke the news of the deportation of members of the visiting South African Youth Alliance.

Again the official media completely censored these important developments.

The private media’s openness in covering these human rights violations was reflected by their sourcing pattern (Figs 2 and 3).

Fig. 2 Voice distribution in the private electronic media

Fig. 3 Voice distribution in the private Press

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