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Weekly Media Update 2010-21
The Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
Monday May 31st 2010 - Sunday June 6th 2010
June 11, 2010

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Who is asking the hard questions?

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When Zimbabwe started down the path of creating a new constitution, the nation might have hoped for a momentous discussion of this sacred contract between the government and the governed.

Unfortunately, the process has so far been sidetracked by partisan bickering, shameless scrounging for donor dollars and bogus non-issues. What's worse, the media, both private and state-run, have failed abysmally to shine a light into the darkness.

The COPAC outreach teams hope to hold meetings in each of the 1 957 wards scattered from Beitbridge to Nyamapanda during a two-month exercise, starting Wednesday.

Any journalist worth his salt would demand to know exactly when and where these meetings will take place and how ordinary folk can participate. Instead, Zimbabweans have endured a flood of stories in the state media reacting to disputes between the parties, funding shortages and deliberate distractions, like narrow debate on gay rights, which has now become part of ZANU-PF's propaganda.

The private media have not done much better, with the exception of The Zimbabwean giving hard-copy space to the results of an exceptional initiative by the online social communication agency, Kubatana, to get Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga to respond to real concerns from the public about the constitutional-making process.

A recent example was NewsDay's accusation (9/6) that ZANU-PF was delaying the process with MPs' demands for fatter allowances, when it is evident that MDC parliamentarians are also crying for cash. In any case, the process is about the people, not MPs. Exactly what role are they playing anyway?

Instead of wasting space on petty nonsense, the media should be asking the hard questions to which every Zimbabwean needs answers.

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