Back to Index

Economic decline
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2007-35
Monday September 3rd - Sunday September 9th 2007
September 13, 2007

Although the government media carried 96 stories (ZBC [71] and government papers [25]) highlighting economic decline this week, they did not present an intelligent analysis of how these indicators impacted negatively on the lifestyles of Zimbabweans.

For example, besides highlighting the severe commodity shortages characterized by fuel, transport and basic foodstuffs such as bread, the government media neither traced the root causes of these problems nor gave any idea of their scope. They also failed to seek government comment on what measures it was taking to correct the situation. Instead, they simply presented government as working hard to address the problems without substantiation. For example, The Herald and Chronicle (5/9) merely highlighted the shortage of bread due to the lack of flour without asking government what it was doing to address the shortage. Instead, they passively quoted Lands and Security Minister Didymus Mutasa vaguely saying government was "working to procure" wheat "albeit in small quantities" to "ensure bread and flour availability".

Earlier, The Herald (3/9) tried to portray the authorities as having solved the public transport crisis when it passively reported that children returning to boarding schools for the new term got a "huge boost" when government increased diesel allocations from 500 litres per bus per week to 300 litres a day. Instead of assessing the adequacy of the allocation, the paper quoted an unnamed government official saying the decision to increase fuel allocations was made because government was "concerned with the plight of commuters, who were enduring long hours in queues . . . " in search of transport. However, people quoted in the paper's next issue (4/9) appeared to contradict the official claims that the allocation had "eased the transport crisis", saying they were still facing transport problems.

Equally, no informed analysis met government's announcement of a 20 percent increase in goods and services that had not yet been hiked since government froze them at the June 18 levels (The Herald 7/9). For example, there was a total lack of information on what goods and services were included in the 20 percent directive. Moreover, there was no comment from business to assess the adequacy of the increase. Earlier, Radio Zimbabwe (4/9, 1pm), (4/9, 6pm) and Spot FM (4/9, 8pm) assumed that the government-sanctioned price increases would automatically lead to the re-appearance of goods in shops without taking into account the effects of the price blitz in the whole supply chain of products. They simply noted that the "supply of basic commodities in wholesalers has not improved despite the upward review of prices . . . "

The government media failed to adequately explain the circumstances leading to government's alleged takeover of Olivine Holdings. The Herald and Chronicle (3/9) only gave the impression that the takeover was part of a new government decree under its price-cutting crusade empowering it to seize non-compliant businesses.

The government media's sourcing patterns are shown in Figs 5 and 6. Notably, most of the business voices were quoted complaining about their operational problems without linking them to the causes.

Fig 5: Voice Distribution on ZBC

Fig 6: Voice distribution in the government Press

The private media openly discussed Zimbabwe's economic decline in 42 reports they carried on the matter (private electronic media [25] and private Press [17]).

They revealed widespread discontent with government's economic policies as exemplified by their reports on announcements by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) that they planned to call their members out on strike to protest poor pay and government's salary freeze. In fact, the Gazette revealed that a "sizeable" number of teachers did not report for duty this week. In addition, the private media highlighted massive retrenchments of workers by companies reeling from government's price-cut campaign as well as resignations from state security agencies.

For example, the online agency, Zim.Times reported 3 000 police officers as having quit the force during the first six months of this year alone. Citing a memo that police chief Augustine Chihuri had allegedly written to Labour Minister Nicholas Goche appealing for more funds for the ZRP, the online agency reported Chihuri as saying most of the junior officers were "resigning soon after joining the force due to poor remuneration".

The Gazette exposed the disastrous effects of the price blitz when it reported that the National Bakers Association had sent a "distress call" to government, saying they were "facing collapse" due to "viability problems brought about by government policies". The private media also clearly explained the circumstances that led to government's takeover of Olivine. Contrary to government Press reports that the deal was "part of government's nationalisation programme", the Independent (7/9) revealed that government was "made aware" of Heinz's decision to "sell off" its local shareholding in Olivine "as far back as" December last year. It claimed that the government expressed an interest but did not have the funds to pay for the shares.

The Gazette had earlier carried a similar story. It noted that Charamba's "surprising" comments that government was still negotiating with the US-based company shows that there might be "differences within government" over how the deal was structured.

Fig 7: Voice distribution in the private electronic media

Fig 8: Voice distribution in the private Press

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