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Weekly Media Update 2009-20
Monday May 18th - Sunday May 24th 2009
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
May 29, 2009

General comment

The Media Monitoring Project is appalled by Information Secretary George Charamba's revelations in The Herald (28/5) that the legally defunct Media and Information Commission (MIC) is still "drawing funding from the Treasury every month," while insisting that journalists should still get government accreditation despite the absence of a legal regulatory body.

He argued that there would be "accreditation" of journalists at "all times" because the amendments to AIPPA only "removed . . . the leadership of the MIC" but "didn't dismantle the administrative structures, let alone the law, upon which those structures are founded".

While it is true that much of AIPPA's repressive provisions remain intact, it is MMPZ's understanding that the amendments to the Act which became law on January 11 2008 rendered the MIC a legal nullity and replaced it with a Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC), which was supposed to accredit journalists and licence media houses, as well as set their registration fees.

However, this commission was never established under the Act.

Constitutional Amendment No.19 also makes provision for the establishment of a similar Zimbabwe Media Commission but does not specifically make provision for it to register media houses and accredit journalists. While there is no clear provision under the Constitutional amendment for this ZMC to replace the commission under AIPPA, a statutory legal interpretation would mean that the constitutional ZMC takes precedence while the one established under AIPPA falls away.

As such, the Constitutional ZMC yet to be set up remains the only statutory body legally empowered to regulate media activity.

But instead of balancing Charamba's arguments with these legal realities, The Herald allowed a lawyer, Mercy Chineunye-Chizodza, to expand on his claims, suggesting the Ministry of Information could still accredit journalists in the absence of a regulatory body.

However, according to the amended AIPPA the ministry can no longer do so as that authority has been conferred on the ZMC.

The unbalanced publicity given to Charamba's comments appeared to reinforce an earlier Ministry of Information statement (official dailies, 23/5) that sought to contradict Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's announcement (21/5) that there was "no legal obligation" for journalists to apply for accreditation in the absence of the ZMC.

Although Tsvangirai's statement conformed to his party's pledges to reform the media, it is not clear how it would achieve this given the legal obstacles that litter the country's statutes and the evident reluctance by its government counterparts to democratise the media.

For instance, the ZMC created under the Constitution could still inherit the repressive mandate granted by AIPPA given that Constitutional Amendment No.19 Section 100P subsection (1) (e) gives it the authority to "exercise any other functions that may be conferred or imposed on the Commission by or under an Act of Parliament".
Thus, the ZMC can still be used to enforce the repressive provisions of AIPPA and thereby make nonsense of the government's promise to institute media reforms envisaged by the GPA.

And while Constitutional Amendment No.19 stipulates that the President shall appoint a "chairperson and eight other members (of the ZMC) . . . from a list of no fewer than twelve nominees submitted by the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders", there is no guarantee that the appointments would not be tainted by political interests and compromises. This is particularly so considering that the parliamentary committee is roughly equally composed of ZANU PF and MDC members, who may nominate individuals they believe would advance their parties' interests, including those that have spearheaded the decimation of the private media.

The public and private Press

The partial resolution of the outstanding issues under the Global Political Agreement (GPA) just after the MDC-T had sought regional intervention, and the inclusive government's efforts to rejuvenate the country's shattered socio-economic sectors dominated the print media in the week (See Fig. 1).

Fig 1: Topical issues in the print media

However, as in the previous weeks the government papers steered clear of bitter power struggles and friction within the government, preferring only to reflect ZANU PF's perspective on the state of the fragile transitional authority.

It is in this light that while the official dailies (21/5) gave prominence to an announcement by Cabinet Secretary Misheck Sibanda that the coalition principals had agreed to retain ministerial secretaries, they subsequently censored Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Press conference giving more detail on the resolution of other outstanding issues. He also reaffirmed his party's decision to seek regional intervention over unresolved appointments of the Attorney-General Johannes Tomana and central bank governor Gideon Gono.

But while the official papers ignored this important government news event, The Sunday Mail and The Sunday News (24/5) gave ample space to the one-sided summary by President Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba, of the resolved issues in which he noted that the agreed formula on the appointment of governors was still subject to approval by ZANU PF's Politburo. The papers did not reconcile this confusing revelation with Tsvangirai's earlier statement that gave the impression the issue had been concluded.

Neither did they provide coherent background information on the events, particularly the eight crisis meetings that led to the agreement, which the official papers censored in the last weeks in their efforts to conceal the political stresses within government. Nor did they holistically assess which of the coalition parties had capitulated given their earlier hard-line positions.

This was particularly so considering Charamba's attempts to project the partial resolution of the dispute as mainly due to ZANU PF and Mugabe's magnanimity and commitment to the successful implementation of the GPA.

Similarly, the government papers did not examine the negative economic implications of Mugabe's reluctance to rescind his unilateral appointment of Gono, whose removal is one of the preconditions donors have attached to their budgetary support.

Instead, their columnists dismissed outright donors' demands as unjustified and simply hinged on the West's relentless "illegal" regime change campaign.

The government papers' coverage of the country's socio-economic woes was equally dishonest as they continued to attribute the crises exclusively on the alleged Western sanctions or the failure by some MDC-run ministries to address the problems.

The Herald (23/5), for example, detached the civil servants' strike over poor salaries from the wider problems afflicting the coalition and emphasized the fact that the MDC-T was responsible for the welfare of government workers.

The official papers' four reports on human rights abuses, all of which were follow-ups to court cases involving civic and political activists facing banditry charges, were also reported in isolation of the authorities' failure to nurture and protect Zimbabweans' basic freedoms as stipulated by the GPA.

Although the private weeklies reported on Tsvangirai's statement on the coalition partners' resolution of some of the outstanding issues, they did not give the story the prominence it deserved or critically measure the resolutions against the parties' earlier demands. The Zimbabwe Independent (22/5), for example, relegated the matter to its inner pages, while The Standard (24/5) simply reported Tsvangirai reiterating his party's disapproval of Mugabe's unilateral appointment of Tomana and Gono.

However, contrary to the impression of a united and focused government created by the official papers, the private weeklies exposed persisting power struggles as illustrated by the intensifying conflict between Gono and the MDC-T Finance Minister, Tendai Biti.

They also contended that the prolonged failure by the coalition partners to resolve all outstanding issues, forcing the MDC-T to refer them to SADC and the AU, demonstrated the inability of the principals and the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee to ensure compliance with the GPA.

The private papers' stories on the country's socio-economic ills and continued human rights violations were presented in the context of the mammoth task facing government and its failure to implement democratic reforms.

Their 17 stories on rights violations included two new incidents stemming from the arrest of WOZA activists in Bulawayo for protesting against government's failure to fully reform, and the assault of a white commercial farmer in Banket by suspected ZANU PF land invaders. The rest were follow-ups to previous cases.

However, none of the print media diligently reported on parliamentary business, particularly the tabling in parliament of the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) report on last year's elections that grossly misrepresented and masked glaring electoral irregularities that marred the polls. In fact, except for The Zimbabwean (21/5), none of the papers reported on ZEC's distortion of the truth, or sought an explanation from the authorities over the inexplicable delays in holding by-elections for the vacant parliamentary seats.

Fig 2: Voice distribution in the print media

ZBC and private radio stations

ZBC continued to provide an unprofessional service about news of the inclusive government and its attempts to mend the country's economy. Although the broadcaster gave significant space to these issues as shown in Fig 3, it barely provided a holistic and informative coverage of the topics in its news bulletins.

Fig 3: Topical issues on ZBC and private stations

For example, in line with its public relations campaign for the inclusive government, which has seen the broadcaster conceal intense friction within the coalition, ZBC misleadingly gave the impression that the principals had finally resolved all outstanding disputes under the political deal.

It censored President Mugabe's refusal to reverse his unilateral appointment of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, whose unresolved positions have since been referred to SADC and the AU by the MDC-T for arbitration.

It also deliberately censored Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Press conference announcing a resolution to most of the remaining disputes, thereby depriving its audiences of important information on developments surrounding the fragile transitional authority, particularly those that expose the fragile nature of government.

Instead, Spot FM (20/5, 8pm) simply reported Tsvangirai vaguely telling business and civil society representatives in Mutare that "significant progress has been made" in addressing the outstanding issues, a day before his conference.

Consequently, there was no useful analysis of the partial resolution of the disagreements to see which party had conceded more ground and its implications on government's search for international support to revive the economy, which has been hampered by delays in fully implementing the GPA.

Seventeen of ZBC's 44 stories on the inclusive government depicted the coalition as having made significant inroads in convincing the international community to support its reconstruction programmes. They cited as evidence pledges of financial support by the World Bank and Germany; Spain's promise to persuade other European countries to assist Zimbabwe, and a visit by Botswana business delegation to assess investment opportunities.

There was no attempt to measure the financial support the country has received to date against the amount government requires to revive the economy.

ZBC also gave a one-dimensional view of the country's socio-economic malaise. Rather than view continuing poor service delivery, infrastructural disrepair and labour unrest as evidence of the inadequacy of government's interventions so far, it obsessively attributed the problems to alleged Western sanctions while ignoring the decade of decline that led to the country's economic collapse.

In contrast, the private stations provided more useful updates on the fragile coalition government and its efforts to resuscitate the country's economy.

For instance, they quoted independent commentators noting that although the coalition principals had resolved most of the outstanding issues, Mugabe's reluctance to overturn his unilateral appointment of Tomana and Gono would still dent government's efforts to mobilize financial aid as donors were unlikely to provide budgetary support as long as Gono was heading the central bank.

And while the official media tried to portray the agreement on some of the outstanding issues as indicative of unquestionable unity in government, SW Radio Africa (21/5) reported Tsvangirai as having "expressed concern" over "continued violations of the rule of law" during his announcement of the resolutions, while Studio 7 (20/5) quoted him telling Mutare business and civil society leaders that there was need to "reform" the country's security agencies, which he said were "heavily politicized and partisan".

They also interpreted Gono's letter to Tsvangirai seeking the Premier's intervention in his ongoing conflict with Finance Minister Tendai Biti as another indicator of widening cracks in government.

The stations also anchored their nine stories on rights violations on the problems afflicting government. Of these, four were new incidents emanating from the alleged assault of white commercial farmers and their workers in Chinhoyi, Banket and Headlands by suspected ZANU PF loyalists and state security agents.

However, none of the broadcast media reported on the Zimbabwe Election Commission's distortion of the corrupted and violent electoral environment that prevailed in last year's elections in its report presented to Parliament on May 13th.

Fig 4: Voice distribution on ZBC and private radios

Online Publications

Like the rest of the media, the private online agencies also paid more attention to the coalition government and the country's socio-economic problems. See Fig. 5.

Fig 5: Topical stories in the online news agencies

The agencies quoted analysts and political activists criticizing the coalition principals for failing to urgently institute comprehensive democratic reforms, adding that Tsvangirai had made more concessions by agreeing to the retention of Mugabe-appointed permanent secretaries and ambassadors and the payment of compensation to governors who would lose their posts to MDC appointees.

The agencies also reported Gono's letter of complaint to Tsvangirai against Finance Minister Biti, the persistent economic woes and human rights violations in the context of the problems threatening the stability of the government.

Only ZimOnline (21/5) however, reported on ZEC's willful misrepresentation of the country's repressive electoral environment that blighted last year's polls in its report on these events that was finally tabled in Parliament.

Fig 6: Online agencies - Voice distribution

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