Back to Index

Political developments
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2007-12
Monday March 26th 2007 – Sunday April 1st 2007

THE government media continued to present a distorted version of the country’s political developments in the 138 stories they carried on the topic. Of these, 82 appeared in the official Press while ZBC aired 56. These included the deteriorating human rights situation in the country; the discussion of the crisis during a SADC extraordinary summit and debate on President Mugabe’s succession. Notably, the government media avoided reporting about the dissent within ZANU PF over the succession issue and open signs of growing regional displeasure with Mugabe’s rule.

Instead, they presented a sanitized picture of a united ruling party, unconditionally supported by regional leaders in its fight against alleged Western plots to overthrow the government using the MDC.

Only the private media frankly tackled the subject. Their 103 stories (private Press [51] and private electronic media [52]) portrayed a cornered government, whose use of force to retain power had not only attracted local and international censure, but had also caused disquiet even within the usually passive regional organization, SADC.

a) Crackdown on dissenting voices
Again the government media blamed all cases of political violence in the country on the MDC and the West’s plans to oust government while simultaneously censoring the state security agents’ vicious clampdown on the opposition. As a result, almost all the 54 stories these media carried (official Press [39] and ZBC [15]) on violence only highlighted incidents of alleged MDC "terrorism" or passively quoted the police, government and ZANU PF supporters threatening the opposition.

This week the incidents included the alleged petrol bombings of a ZANU PF Mbare district office, a police camp in Chitungwiza (ZBC, 27/3, 8pm; The Herald and Chronicle, 28/3) and two petrol tankers in Mutare (The Herald, 29/3 and Manica Post, 30/3).

The official media’s reluctance to expose the brutalities of state security agencies resulted in ZTV (28/3, 8pm), The Herald and Chronicle (29/3) passively reporting the military style police raid on the MDC’s Harvest House headquarters and some opposition officials’ homes, resulting in the arrests of more than 35 MDC activists.

Instead of viewing the development in light of the ongoing crackdown on the MDC, ZTV merely quoted police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena insisting the raids were not a "witch-hunt", claiming that the police had "recovered" weapons and material from the party’s offices and homes of some of the arrested opposition leaders linking them to recent bombings. Among the weapons, Bvudzijena claimed, were 53 "dynamites" (sic) that were similar to those "supplied by the Americans" during the country’s de-mining exercise and "resembled" the "dynamite found at the site of the train petrol bombing".

The official dailies quoted him making similar statements the following morning. None of them questioned how the "discovery" of the dynamite could be related to the bombings, especially when police and media reports had previously reported the train as having been petrol bombed. Neither did they report the indiscriminate police beatings of ordinary people, or the arrest of some tenants of Harvest House who had nothing to do with opposition politics. Nor did they seek comment from the MDC. Instead, the government papers drowned these issues with their own perspective of the MDC as a violent party in their news stories, editorials, opinion features and graphics. For example, The Herald (31/3) convicted seven detained MDC activists before any trial in its story about their attempt to obtain bail under the headline "MDC Terror Bombers to Remain in Custody".

Earlier, the paper’s front page lead announcing the arrest of 35 MDC members (29/3) was accompanied by a graphic of the bombing incidents depicting an MDC activist throwing the bombs, clearly buttressing an article the previous day by one of its columnists’ branding the MDC as an "anarchy-oriented party of mercenaries bent on furthering Western propaganda".

Although the private Press exposed the police brutality against government opponents in the 21 stories they carried on political violence, they did not adequately investigate the circumstances of the alleged MDC bombings. For example, The Financial Gazette (29/3) and the Zimbabwe Independent (30/3) only reported the bombings in the context of the police raids on the MDC headquarters. There was no attempt to independently verify the origins and use of the explosives allegedly found at the home of MDC activist Piniel Denga. Neither did they give any prominence to the abduction and brutal assault of MDC official Last Maengahama by suspected state security agents. The Independent, for example, simply buried the subject in its round-up of nationwide police purge of the opposition. The Maengahama case was part of the 11 incidents of police violence against the MDC that the private Press recorded.

The private electronic media performed better in the 29 stories they carried on government’s crackdown on the opposition. Almost half (14) of these were detailed incidents of the arrests, abductions and torture of opposition activists; the indiscriminate beatings of civilians and harassment of civic activists. The remainder were follow-up reports and discussions on the deteriorating human rights situation.

Both the Zimbabwe Times (31/3) and The Standard (1/4) captured the brutal torture of nine MDC officials and workers accused of "master-minding" the bombings. They reported that many of the nine had sustained "broken arms and legs" due to severe police beatings and that MDC officials Ian Makone and Paul Madzore "collapsed in court" and were "put on a life support system" when they were taken to hospital.

The government media ignored this evidence of their assault.

The Herald (31/3), for example, merely reported that Denga was remanded "in custody… to enable him to receive treatment" without explaining why he needed it.

b) SADC and International pressure
In its efforts to suppress regional concerns about recent events in Zimbabwe the government media managed to muddle the agenda and outcome of a special SADC summit held in Tanzania during the week. This was reflected in the 53 stories they carried on the issue (ZBC 24 stories, the official Press 29). These media dishonestly presented the meeting as having been convened to discuss the strife in the DRC and Lesotho’s elections but ignored the fact that the Zimbabwean crisis was also on the agenda.

For instance, ZTV (28/3, 8pm) claimed that Mugabe was only going to take advantage of the gathering to "specifically give a message to SADC and thank (its members) for the support they have given Zimbabwe all along and explain to them the current events that have been exacerbated by the intervention of Britain, America and Europe in our affairs".

The Herald and Chronicle (27/3) made similarly deceitful claims.

Even when it emerged after the meeting that Zimbabwe had been discussed, the official media still did not acknowledge this fact. Instead, the government dailies (30/3), Spot FM (30/3, 8am) and ZTV (30/3, 8pm) simply reported the issue in the context of a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting in which SADC leaders, recommended, among other things, "the lifting of sanctions" against the ruling elite and for the British government to honour its land obligations. Notably, these media did not provide a coherent account of SADC’s position on the alleged MDC violence that Mugabe had reportedly promised to update the summit on. The papers only vaguely reported Mugabe as saying the "summit had also urged the MDC to desist from violence and to recognise him and his government" since he was legitimately elected in 2002.

Similarly, they did not clarify why SADC had found it necessary to appoint South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate talks between government and the opposition.

These issues were simply drowned in the government media’s determination to simplistically project the outcome of the summit as a "diplomatic victory" for Zimbabwe and a "slap in the face of the West" who have been trying to "manipulate" the region to "condemn" the country (the Chronicle 30/3, and ZBC 30/3, 8pm).The Sunday Mail (1/4) reinforced this notion when it passively quoted President Mugabe saying Mbeki had defended Zimbabwe against attacks by Western countries on Zimbabwe.

None of the SADC nations were accessed for comment.

The private media presented a different picture in their 32 stories on the matter, 18 of which appeared in the private electronic media and 14 in the private Press. Besides openly discussing the agenda of the summit and highlighting the growing disenchantment over Mugabe’s rule, they also tried to investigate the behind-the-scenes deliberations by regional leaders.

For example, The Financial Gazette (29/3) reported Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa as having said he had "no regrets" for his earlier description of Zimbabwe as a "sinking Titanic", adding that if President Mugabe was as popular as he says he is why does he "rule his people in such a fashion".

Contrary to the notion presented by the government media, ZimDaily.com (29/03) claimed that SADC leaders had "strongly condemned President Mugabe behind closed doors". The Zimbabwe Independent carried a similar report the following day. It quoted unnamed diplomatic sources saying regional leaders had confronted Mugabe with two choices which were "to quit at the end of his current term" next year or "introduce far reaching reforms to end the political and economic crisis".

c) Succession
The government media skirted open debate on ZANU PF’s decision to synchronize all national elections in 2008 and its endorsement of President Mugabe’s candidature for the presidential elections. Almost all their 31 stories on the matter (ZBC [17] and government papers [14]) simply restricted themselves to sanitized ZANU PF pronouncements and avoided investigating reports on the alleged tension within the ruling party over Mugabe’s decision to seek re-election.

It was against this background that ZBC (30/3, 8pm), The Herald and Chronicle (31/3) projected ZANU PF Central Committee’s nomination of Mugabe as undisputed. No attempt was made to investigate the nature of debates on the matter during the Central Committee meeting and at other various ruling party gatherings leading to the meeting.

Neither did they analyse the committee’s decision to bring forward to 2008 the harmonisation of the presidential, parliamentary and local government elections and the expansion of the legislature. Only the private media exposed the discord within ZANU PF and outside the party over Mugabe’s nomination. They carried 21 stories on the subject, 16 of which appeared in the private Press and five in the private electronic media.

For example, the Independent reported divisions in ZANU PF over Mugabe’s candidature ahead of the central committee meeting. It claimed that a report by a team of security agents revealed that seven out of the 10 provinces the team had surveyed by "Monday last week" had shown that Mugabe would be difficult to campaign for in an election. In addition, the paper claimed Mugabe had evaded "direct confrontation with senior party leaders at the politburo meeting by refusing to have his candidature discussed". At the end of the week The Standard (1/4) quoted various commentators, including ZANU PF founder members Enos Nkala and Edgar Tekere, denouncing Mugabe’s plans to hold on to power.

The different manner in which the media handled the country’s political developments was mirrored by their sourcing patterns as shown in Figs 1-4.

Fig. 1 Voice distribution in the government Press

Although the government papers’ sourcing pattern appeared diverse, most of the voices were quoted in the context of blaming the opposition for the country’s political disturbances. While the papers gave space to the MDC, this was basically to the Mutambara faction, which has received far less condemnation for the violence than the Tsvangirai faction in the official media. Even then, most were quoted in stories that discredited the MDC.

ZBC simply ignored both factions as shown in Fig 2.

A fair presentation of opposition and alternative views appeared in the private media. See Figs 3 and 4.

Fig. 3 Voice distribution in the private Press

Notably, 10 of the 14 unnamed sources appeared in The Zimbabwean (29/3) stories on political developments. The reports included a false and sensational headline that Vice-President Joice Mujuru had resigned, a fact not reflected in the story. Similarly, nine of the 10 unnamed voices the private electronic media carried were in the online agencies.

Fig. 4 Voice distribution in the private electronic media

Visit the MMPZ fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP