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Economic decline
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2007-47
Monday November 26th - Sunday December 2nd 2007
December 06, 2007

The government media portrayed the 2008 national budget as the tonic to Zimbabwe's economic haemorrhage without demonstrating how. They simply amplified the authorities' rhetorical claims that it was a "people's budget" while concealing its shortcomings. Consequently, there was no informed analysis of the budget or the practicality of some of its targets. For example, ZBC stations (29/11, 8pm) and The Herald and Chronicle (30/11) highlighted government's tax-free concessions to workers, projections of a four percent growth in agriculture and a fall in inflation to 1,978 percent by December 2008, among others. But they did not relate these purported positives to the reality of hyperinflation, low production and acute shortages. The government media also showed no curiosity as to how government would fund its projected budget deficit of $1,760 trillion or tame inflation.

It was in this light that while the Chronicle (30/11) vaguely reported Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce's Marah Hativagone urging government to address the supply side of the economy, Spot FM (30/11, 1pm) drowned similar observations by economists David Mupamhadzi and Oswell Binha. The official media failed to report holistically on the continued economic decline and sought no explanation from authorities on what measures they were taking to stem it. The Herald (27/11), for example, only hinted at severe commodity shortages when it noted that the Central Statistics Office had failed to release inflation figures for October because it could not get prices for most goods "due to their shortage on the formal market".

The next day, ZTV (28/11, 8pm) passively reported on the cash shortages saying the situation "continued to worsen with most banks forcing people and businesses to limit cash withdrawals" without seeking official comment, especially relating to the threatened introduction of a new currency. There was also no informed investigation into the real reasons behind continuing power cuts and the recent withdrawal of Air Zambia from Zimbabwe, among other indicators of economic decline. These reports formed part of the 84 stories the government media carried on the topic: ZBC [42] and government papers [42]. The government media's fairly balanced sourcing pattern (Figs 5 and 6) belied its superficial coverage.

Fig 5: Voice distribution on ZBC

Fig 6: Voice distribution in the government papers

Private media reports were more critical of the country's economic direction, which they presented as doomed unless government changed course. For example, they exposed the populist nature of the budget, its unrealistic targets and government's apparent powerlessness in taming hyperinflation. The Zimbabwe Independent (30/11), revealed that Zimbabwe had actually set a record by being the only country in the world with a national budget running into quadrillions, noting that the 12,250 percent increase from last year's budget of $37 trillion underlined the country's hyperinflationary environment. It also reported economist John Robertson criticising the budget's silence on how government would deal with inflation and dismissed as "ambitious" the authorities' promises to reduce it to 1,978 percent by next year's end.

MDC's Tendai Biti was quoted saying the budget was "economic fiction that reflects the disconnection, denial and sense of abstraction of the ZANU PF regime". New Zimbabwe.com (29/11), the Independent and The Standard (1/12) questioned how the $1,7 quadrillion budget deficit would be financed. They suggested government was likely to print money and borrow it.

The private media also highlighted indicators of economic decline. SW Radio Africa (26/11) and Studio 7 (27/11), for example, reported Zambian Airways pulling out from its Harare route citing viability problems. SW Radio Africa (26 and 30/11) reported on continued labour unrest, citing, among others, the continuing magistrates' strike. The stories formed part of 47 reports on Zimbabwe's economic decline. Eighteen of them appeared in the private electronic media, while 29 featured in the private Press.

The private media's balanced coverage of the matter was reflected in their sourcing patterns (Figs 7 and 8).

Fig 7: Voice distribution private electronic media

Fig 8: Voice distribution private Press

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