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Political developments
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2007-20
Monday May 21st 2007 - Sunday May 27th 2007
May 30, 2007

THIS week the media continued to report on the international community's concerns over Zimbabwe's worsening crisis. They devoted 71 stories to the matter, 43 of which appeared in the government-controlled Press and 28 in the private papers. However, the official Press either censored or buried widespread condemnation of the country's misrule and only approvingly reported on developments that appeared to reflect regional support for Zimbabwe. As a result, they failed to give an accurate picture of world opinion, especially in Africa, about the country's deteriorating situation. For example, while they dismissed criticism of government's poor human rights record by the African Union (AU), the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) and the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) as being influenced by the West, they favourably reported on the support Zimbabwe received from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and the African Development Bank (ADB).

Such selective reporting resulted in The Sunday Mail (27/5) using the Africa Day celebrations to line up pro-government columnists to attack the AU, PAP and ACHPR for allegedly colluding with the West to malign Zimbabwe. These included Media and Information Commission (MIC) chair Tafataona Mahoso and the paper's political editor Munyaradzi Huni. Huni, for example, accused the AU of being "hijacked by the imperialists", saying the "solidarity and vigilance" with which the continent used to fight colonialism "has disappeared" resulting in the continental body failing to take firm decisions to tackle problems in Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe, which is "under siege" from the West. To whip up pan-Africanist emotions, Huni wondered if the late Ghanaian leader Nkwame Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba would have allowed the West to "orchestrate an economic war against the people of Zimbabwe" and "demonise President Mugabe". He then portrayed AU chairman John Kufuor as having been "pocketed by the imperialists".

Mahoso echoed similar claims.

In addition, the government weekly suffocated former Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings's criticism of government's policies with Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa's insistence that the authorities had "no apologies to make" for the problems facing the country. Neither did it provide circumstances under which the meeting between the two, held at Rawlings' house, was held. Earlier, The Herald (21/5) censored NGOs' concerns about the country's deteriorating human rights record at the ordinary session of the ACHPR in Ghana and only gave space to Chinamasa's refusal to participate in a proposed dialogue with civic bodies on the matter on the basis that the discussion was unprocedural.

There was no independent verification of his claims.

While the government media criticised regional bodies that raised concerns on the country's deepening crisis, they reported favourably on Comesa and the ADB for their apparent support for Zimbabwe. In fact, all 13 stories ZBC carried on the country's international relations narrowly celebrated Zimbabwe's election to the boards of these organisations as indicative of the country's support against Western machinations to isolate it. For example, Spot FM, ZTV (21/5, 8pm) and Radio Zimbabwe (22/5, 6am) reported Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi hailing the election of Secretary for Economic Development Andrew Bvumbe to the management of the ADB (just after Zimbabwe was elected to chair the UN Commission on Sustainable Development) as another expression of the "international community's confidence in the country's competence."

The circumstances surrounding Bvumbe's election were not discussed. Instead, the stations simply quoted Mumbengegwi saying, "instead of Zimbabwe being isolated, it was actually the Western detractors who were being isolated." Similarly, ZTV & Spot FM (22/5, 8pm), The Herald and Chronicle (23/5) celebrated the "election" of Zimbabwe to the vice-chairmanship of Comesa as yet another "show of confidence" in the country. None of these media explained the circumstances leading to the country's election save for Mumbengegwi's vague claims that it was after the country had "offered" itself "for selection and was chosen as per the rules and procedure of Comesa". Neither did they examine the negative impact of government's repressive policies on the country's democratic process such as the extension of the ban on rallies and demonstrations in Harare.

The Herald (25/5), for example, unquestioningly quoted the police defending the ban as aimed at "maintaining order in the capital". ZTV and Spot FM (24/5 6 & 8pm) also passively reported the ban's extension. No comments were sought from the opposition or independent analysts. Instead, the next day the paper cited Security Minister Didymus Mutasa defending POSA, under which the ban was invoked, as vital in "checking Western-sponsored pandemonium in the country".

The government media's failure to report critically on the topic was illustrated by their failure to balance their reports with alternative views as reflected in the official papers' sourcing pattern (Fig 1). Although they carried a significant number of foreign diplomatic voices, their comments were mainly used in the context of supporting Zimbabwe.

Fig. 1 Voice distribution in the government Press

In contrast, the private media exposed the fallacy of government claims of diplomatic victory against its perceived Western enemies. They revealed more widespread condemnation of government's policies. Among those reported to be pushing for policy changes were the grouping of industrialised nations in the West, the G8, the UN Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific - European Union Joint Parliamentary Assembly (ACP-EU).

For example, all three private weeklies and the private electronic media (23/5) reported COHRE's disapproval of government's purge of the urban poor under Operation Murambatsvina, saying it was a "crime against humanity" that "should be taken to the International Criminal Court".

It was in this light that The Standard (27/5) warned against government's alleged diplomatic victories following Zimbabwe's 'election' into the UN, ADB and Comesa saying: "None of these posts will ultimately change the direction of world trade or improve relations between Africa and the rest of the world". However, the paper also failed to explore the conditions under which Zimbabwe landed the positions.

But the private media did provide an informative round-up of the ACHPR session in Ghana. Studio 7 (21/5), The Zimbabwe Times (22/5), The Financial Gazette (24/5) and the Independent, for instance, revealed how tense the human rights debate on Zimbabwe was and that at least five NGOs from Zimbabwe "refused" to address the commission on Zimbabwe's human rights situation citing security concerns. This followed Chinamasa's branding of the organisations as Anglo-American sponsored "regime change activists".

The Financial Gazette, the Independent and The Zimbabwean (24/5) also highlighted local disenchantment over the country's misrule as mirrored by the MDC's court challenge of the country's electoral laws and the Catholic Bishops' vow to speak out against "an escalating wave of State-sponsored violence".

The voice distribution of the private Press is shown in Fig 2.

Fig 2 Voice distribution in the Private Press

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