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Economic decline
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2007-14
Monday April 9th 2007 - Sunday April 15th 2007

THE government media continued to mask the root causes for the country's economic crisis in all the 85 stories they devoted to the subject in the week. Of these, 31 appeared in the official papers while ZBC aired 44.

None of the reports linked the problems to government's policies. Instead, they all allowed government to blame those outside official circles, especially the business sector and the West for "sabotaging" the economy, thereby undermining government's efforts to turn it around. For example, The Herald (12/4) and Chronicle (13/4) passively reported Industry Minister Obert Mpofu dismissing the recent wave of price increases as having nothing to do with "economic viability", blaming "political" motives instead: "Some people have failed on other platforms and are now using unorthodox methods to create anarchy in the country."

No evidence was provided to substantiate this allegation.

The Herald's column, Business Focus with Victoria Ruzvidzo (12/4) echoed Mpofu's claims. It depicted the prices of goods and services as exclusively determined by the rate of the US dollar and questioned why prices had not dropped in relation to the falling parallel market exchange rate.

A statement by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) carried in the same issue of the paper calling on producers and retailers to "shun speculation when adjusting prices" was then used in the column as an "overdue" admission by businesses that they were responsible for the economic hardships in the country.

The Sunday Mail and Sunday News (15/4) followed suit, claiming that Mpofu came "face-to-face with the shocking scandal of Zimbabwe's runaway prices" during a tour of the United Refineries Limited (URL) factory in Bulawayo. Reportedly, URL officials told Mpofu that while their company was selling a 750ml bottle of cooking oil at $8,600, retailers were reselling it at between $29,000 and $35,000.

No URL officials were actually quoted saying this and neither was there confirmation from the retailers themselves on the matter.

Similarly, almost half the stories (20) ZBC carried on the economy mainly quoted government officials and selected business leaders denouncing price hikes, which they presented as unwarranted and driven by greed.

It was against this background that all the 38 stories the official media carried on indicators of economic decline (ZBC [20] and government Press [18]) were detached from the root causes of the country's economic ills. In fact, the official media's reluctance to give a coherent picture of the country's economic troubles saw Spot FM (12/4, 1pm) merely announce that the Central Statistics Office had "indefinitely" postponed the release of inflation figures for March without investigating the reasons. Instead, the station tried to downplay the anticipated inflation jump by rehashing government's unsubstantiated forecasts that the inflation rate, which stood at 1,729% in February, "was expected to fall to between 200-300% by year-end".

Notably, The Herald, Radio Zimbabwe and ZTV ignored the development.

There was equally no attempt by the official media to fully discuss the effects of government's decision to charge import duty on imported vehicles and other "luxury goods" in foreign currency. Except for the Chronicle, these media generally sided with the authorities without interrogating its legality or underlying implications on industry and the informal sector, which relied on the imports. For example, The Herald comment (11/4) praised the decision as "long overdue" since "it protects the local vehicle assembly industry" comprising Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries and Quest Motor Industries. While it noted that imported cars were reasonably cheaper than locally assembled ones, it argued that there was a need to rehabilitate the two car assembly plants, since at "full throttle" they would be able to "create far more jobs . . . compared with the car dealers".

The next day Spot FM (12/4, 8pm) quoted a business representative also welcoming the new import taxes saying they would address foreign currency "distortions" in the market without elaborating.

None of these media reconciled the new regulations with government's previous dismissal of the economy's "dollarisation".

However, the Chronicle dismissed the new import duty, saying Zimbabwe did not have a large motor vehicle manufacturing industry "that could claim to need protection from cheap imports".

Although the official media sought comment from business and alternative sources, these were mainly used to support government claims and not to diagnose the country's economic situation. See Figs 1 and 2.

Fig. 1 Voice distribution in the government Press

Fig. 2 Voice distribution on ZBC

While the private media barely gave a comprehensive picture on the accelerating cost of living, their 32 stories on the economy (private Press [25] and private electronic media [7]) explored government policy deficiencies, which they blamed for the economic decay.

Studio 7 (10/4), for example, quoted economist John Robertson pointing out that imports would "decrease dramatically" as a result of the new import regulations, adding that government was simply attempting to "have . . . distinct solutions to one problem which could be solved by . . . devaluation."

The Zimbabwe Independent (13/4) concurred, noting that while government recently threatened landlords demanding rentals in foreign currency, it had "flagrantly" bent its laws by demanding import duty in foreign currency. It argued that the move was only meant to curb the foreign currency parallel market and not to protect the local motor industry because "Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries can't even supply the police and other government departments with vehicles."

In fact, Studio 7, The Financial Gazette (12/4) and the Independent reported analysts presenting the move as illegal, saying the country's statutes recognised the Zimbabwean dollar as the only legal tender.

They also tried to investigate the reasons behind the postponement of the release of the March inflation figure, which the Independent reported as rising to 2,200%.

The private media's frank assessment of the economic ills and their causes was reflected by their attempts to balance government and alternative voices as shown in Figs 3 and 4.

Fig. 3 Voice distribution in the private electronic media

Fig. 4 Voice distribution in the private Press

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