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Economy and corruption
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-46
Monday November 13^th 2006 – Sunday November 19^th 2006

THE government media papered over the root causes of Zimbabwe’s economic ruin with simplistic stories projecting government as succeeding in turning around the fortunes of the economy. This was reflected in most of the 97 stories these media carried on the subject (ZBH [64] and official papers [33]). For example, 26 of the stories that government papers carried on the economic meltdown painted a rosy picture of the country’s economic outlook or just highlighted symptoms of economic decline in isolation of government’s poor management.

The official media ignored following up alleged corruption by senior ruling party officials at the ailing government owned steel-making giant, Ziscosteel (Zisco). They also failed to expose the authorities’ policy contradictions, which have sometimes resulted in the promulgation of retrogressive economic legislation. Only the private media appeared interested in these issues. In fact, the official media were guilty of diverting attention from the authorities’ reported involvement in graft, especially at Zisco, by presenting them as fighting tenaciously to eradicate the vice. The Herald (15/11), for example, simply quoted Anti-corruption Minister Paul Mangwana lambasting corrupt civil servants for contributing to the country’s economic decay without probing why government had not acted against them.

The next day the paper carried a cartoon passively reinforcing Mangwana’s statements by describing civil servants as "evil servants". Radio Zimbabwe and ZTV (15/11,8pm) also illustrated this professional hypocrisy. Rather than test the authorities’ commitment to fighting corruption in higher places, the two merely claimed: "Zimbabweans have come out in full support of government efforts to fight corruption, which is undermining economic turnaround initiatives."

Notably, the Ziscosteel sleaze was not remotely mentioned. As a result, the government media’s audiences remained oblivious to the authorities’ reported attempts to keep the report away from public view. Neither were they apprised on their sudden defence of the alleged pillaging, especially in light of their rhetorical promises to fight all forms of corruption through the much-publicised anti-corruption drive.

However, The Herald (15/11) unwittingly exposed the duplicity of this anti-corruption drive. It cited Anti-corruption Principal Director Sylvester Mawunganidze revealing that most ministries were refusing to cooperate with the anti-corruption commission while Deputy Chief Secretary of the President, Ray Ndhuluka, noted that there was a "fragmented anti-corruption policy that allows the continuance of the vice".

Why government has not addressed such hindrances was not discussed. Instead, the official media simply resorted to overplaying the economic benefits of otherwise routine events such as trade fairs, including even the advent of time-honoured occurrences like the onset of the rainy season, as indicators of economic recovery.

Radio Zimbabwe and Spot FM (13/11,8pm), for example, publicised the Import Substitution and Value Addition Expo in Harare, which the authorities used as a manifestation of their efforts to stave off economic decline. While the stations, for example, reported the Industry and Trade Ministry boasting about how its "mission to conscientise (sic) industry on the benefits of value addition and import substitution is bearing fruit as evidenced by the number of deals clinched at the Expo", they did not ask him to detail the deals or how much they were worth.

The next day, ZTV (14/11,8pm) devoted 11minutes of its one-hour bulletin (excluding sports) to report approvingly about the onset of the rains. The Herald (15/11) even allowed Mangwana to thank God for the rains, saying civil servants now "have no excuse for corruption". It did not explain how the rains would be a solution to widespread corruption. Instead, the government Press carried seven superficial stories that glossed over the causes of the economic crisis.

For example, The Sunday Mail (19/11) criticised the decision by the Reserve Bank to cancel the seven-year Economic Stabilisation Bonds barely a month after introducing them, but avoided interpreting this as indicative of the confusion and policy contradictions by government. It merely quoted an unnamed analyst noting that the move would cause a "decline" in investor confidence. Earlier, Spot FM (18/11,8pm) found nothing controversial about government’s drafting of the "National Indigenisation and Empowerment Policy…aimed at compelling all foreign-owned companies across all economic spectrums to surrender 50% shareholding to local entrepreneurs…" As a result, no professional analysts were sought to debate the economic prudence of such a law, especially on investor confidence.

The government media’s reluctance to frankly diagnose the country’s economic ills was illustrated by their reliance on official voices. Although they gave significant space to business, ordinary people and alternative views, their comments were either drowned with official claims or used to endorse government measures.

See Fig 1 and 2.

Fig 1. Voice Distribution on ZBH

Fig. 2 Voice distribution in the government Press

The private media openly debated the subject in 36 reports on the matter, 27 of which appeared in private papers and nine in the private electronic media.

Twenty-three of the stories highlighted the country’s economic troubles while the remaining 13 exposed the fallacy of the authorities’ fight against corruption, which they depicted as endemic in government itself. For example, The Daily Mirror (13/11), the online news agency NewZim.com (15&17/11), The Financial Gazette (16/11) and the Zimbabwe Independent (17/11) all carried stories showing Cabinet ministers’ involvement in alleged corruption at ZUPCO and Zisco.

The Mirror and Gazette also revealed alleged harassment of police officers and court officials dealing with the corruption cases. For example, the Gazette disclosed that a police officer investigating the alleged involvement of Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo in the ZUPCO scandal had been transferred from Harare to Manicaland as a way of "getting him out of the way." Similarly, the Mirror reported that senior prosecutor William Gandanzara had resigned while a junior colleague and a magistrate were interrogated by the police for allegedly waiving the bail conditions for Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga, also implicated in the ZUPCO corruption. It reported Gandanzara as saying he resigned because he was displeased with the manner in which the police handled the matter, which he claimed "was tantamount to not having confidence in the office of the area prosecutor".

And despite recent official denials of top government officials’ involvement in the corruption at Zisco, the Independent continued to provide details linking them to the sleaze.

This week the paper named Vice-President Joice Mujuru as one of the beneficiaries of the pillaging. Reportedly, it was her determination to keep the plundering secret that resulted in Industry Minister Obert Mpofu retracting his claims that government officials had looted the government-owned enterprise. In addition, it noted that while Science and Technology Minister Olivia Muchena denied any involvement in the Zisco goings-on, evidence – which the paper published – showed otherwise.

The official media ignored these matters.

The private Press’ candidness was reflected by their sourcing pattern as captured in Fig 2.

Fig 2. Voice distribution in private Press

Notably, 12 of the government voices appeared in the Mirror group.

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