Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe

Monday 4th June to Sunday 10th June 2001

SUMMARY

The abrupt and arbitrary banning of the NDA’s television phone-in
show, Talk to the Nation, was reported in the mainstream Press,
but was ignored by ZBC itself.
Coverage of the ruling party’s legal challenge to the Masvingo
mayoral election result was inadequate in all the media and
distorted in the state Press, which also continued to distort the few
incidents of politically motivated violence that it did cover.

HUNZVI’S DEATH

The war veteran leader’s death was accorded national headlines
throughout the media. But ZBC’s coverage was strangely muted.
ZTV’s 8pm bulletin (4/6) gave just three minutes to the news itself,
and another two minutes to condolences from President Mugabe.
A third two-minute report was devoted to an interview with Health
Minister, Timothy Stamps, providing a lengthy explanation for the
cause of Hunzvi’s death (malaria). However, ZBC failed to explain
why it was necessary for the Minister of Health to explain the
cause of death instead of the more usual practice of obtaining an
official statement from the hospital where Hunzvi died.
ZBCTV’s coverage increased to nine minutes the following evening
after President Mugabe had visited the mourners and pre-empted
the Politburo when he announced that declaring Hunzvi a national
hero was a mere formality. The next evening (6/6, 8pm) all stations
announced that the Politburo had “unanimously” decided to declare
Hunzvi a hero.
But the real mystery was why it had taken so long for the Politburo
to arrive at its unanimous conclusion. None of the media raised this
question and the only clue Zimbabweans had of the Politburo’s
lengthy deliberations came from radio bulletins. Radio 1 & 3 (6am
and 8am, 6/6) announced that the Politburo was due to meet at
9am to decide Hunzvi’s status. In their lunchtime bulletins, all
stations reported that the Politburo was still meeting and Radio 1 &
3 continued to report this in its 2pm and 3pm bulletins. If the
compiler of the station’s bulletins was not slow in updating the
news, this would have meant that the Politburo had met for nearly
six hours to decide whether to declare Hunzvi a national hero – an
exceptionally lengthy session despite the President’s pre-emptive
statement the previous day.
However, the decision provoked a flurry of critical stories in the
private Press, and even Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo,
appeared to have difficulty providing an explanation. He was seen
on ZBCTV (6/6, 8pm) saying:
“Cde Hunzvi…is a hero because he was a hero, because he
lived the life of a hero…”
And the reporter failed to seek clarification for the minister’s
attempt to justify the Politburo decision when he went on to say,
“…the notion that some people have that somehow it is the
Politburo that sits and makes heroes out of people is not
correct.”

The private press (The Daily News 7/6, The Zimbabwe Independent
8/6, and The Financial Gazette 7/6) all quoted people who were
critical of the decision. But Zimpapers’ titles merely endorsed the
ZANU-PF decision.
In an article entitled, Controversy over Hunzvi’s hero status, The
Zimbabwe Independent carried the comments of several individuals
who all believed the honour was being abused for political
purposes. Political scientist Masipula Sithole said: “They are
making Heroes’ Acre a ZANU PF graveyard....”
The same story also traced previous controversies surrounding the
hero status issue, and quoted a Zimbabwe Liberators Platform
spokesman calling for a national debate on the topic. The weekly’s
editorial comment highlighted Hunzvi’s involvement in the
“lawless” farm invasions.
The Daily News (7/6) quoted the MDC querying the “selection
criterion” of a national hero arguing that “the criterion for the
selection of a hero has been privatized by ZANU PF and has
witnessed the elevation of mediocrity and the rewarding of
extortion, murder, theft, violence and torture.”
The state media unquestioningly glorified Hunzvi’s legacy, quoting
an array of ZANU PF government officials, including President
Mugabe and Vice-President Msika. The Herald (5/6) in a front-page
story next to giant photo of Hunzvi, quoted Mugabe describing his
leadership in the “land-based Chimurenga” as “inspiring”.
Stamps’ mysterious appearance on ZBCTV the day Hunzvi died
was partially explained in its evening bulletins on June 6th and in
The Herald the next day, all quoting Mugabe saying, “…malicious
rumours are already circulating that Hunzvi died of Aids, but
that is not true. Dr Stamps told me that he had contracted
malaria….”
An interesting report in The Zimbabwe Independent, however,
made a concerted attempt to disprove this claim. Quoting “well
placed medical sources”, and an authoritative medical reference
book, the paper suggested his death was caused by AIDS related
tuberculosis. This claim was based on the medication Hunzvi
received, according to the paper’s investigations. Notably, this has
not been refuted by the state. If indeed Hunzvi had died from any
AIDS related disease – and malaria could be one - it would be an
indictment of government’s commitment to its own national AIDS
awareness campaign.

NDA PROGRAMME

Zimbabweans who had been following the NDA’s “Talk To The
Nation” programme, must have been disappointed when ZBC
suddenly dropped it without warning.
Worse still, the public broadcaster completely ignored the story
that made the front pages of the public and private Press.
But while The Herald (6/6) (also The Chronicle) confined its story to
the ZBC in its announcement that: “ZBC switches off NDA-
sponsored live TV programme”, The Daily News of the same day
went further: “Moyo bans TV programme”, and quoted the
NDA’s Kindness Paradza, to support its headline: “I do not know
the reason for the action, but the best person to ask is
Jonathan Moyo. Put all your questions to Moyo. Don’t even
bother asking the ZBC.” The paper was apparently unable to get
Moyo, but did quote his principal Press secretary (Hwengwere)
saying that Moyo’s office supported the decision on the grounds
that “the professional integrity of the ZBC was at stake.” But
this was not explained.
The Herald simply reported Moyo as saying the government fully
supported the “decision”. And while the voices of unnamed ZBC
sources were also quoted at length in an effort to explain why the
programme had been dropped, comment from the NDA was
completely missing.
The Daily News reported that Moyo had apparently been angered
by the appearance of the MDC MP Tapiwa Mashakada, who had
“outclassed” his ZANU PF colleague, MP David Chapfika, in a
debate about the country’s economic crisis. Some credibility for
this claim could be found in The Herald, which quoted a ZBC
source as saying: “Live productions can be tricky and
dangerous…Maybe the programme should not have been
broadcast live. You do not know what someone will come and
say and there is no way of controlling it.”
But this did not trouble the ZBC (or Moyo) in the NDA’s first two
shows featuring ministers Ignatius Chombo and Patrick
Chinamasa. Nor were there problems over the “professional
integrity” of the ZBC, or the fact that these two programmes must
have also breached sections of the Act, which The Herald noted,
invested editorial responsibility in the public broadcaster.
The dailies followed up their stories the next day. The Daily News
balanced its story by incorporating a number of voices including the
MDC and Prof Moyo. The Financial Gazette (7/6) only quoted
MDC’s Learnmore Jongwe “lambasting” the ban.
The Herald and The Chronicle (7/6) merely reproduced a statement
from ZBC chairman, Gideon Gono, feebly reiterating that ZBC’s
decision to withdraw the programme was a policy decision and not
a political one. No other opinion was sought, not even from the
NDA to balance the story.
MMPZ deplores what amounts to a deliberate policy by The Herald
to ignore obvious sources for the purpose of skewing information in
favour of one party against another. This is an unacceptable
compromise of balance, accuracy and impartiality.
MMPZ also deplores the ban on the basis that it was made in an
effort to stifle further democratic debate on important national
issues of public interest and that it is a clear indication that
government will not tolerate any attempt by the ZBC to fulfill its
national public broadcasting duty to provide its audiences with a
diversity of opinion.

ELECTORAL ISSUES

News of the Bulawayo mayoral election and ZANU PF’s challenge
to the Masvingo election result continued to receive media
attention, but little of the coverage was very helpful to the media’s
respective audiences.
Last week however, The Standard (3/6) did score a first when it
reported that government intended to postpone the Bulawayo
mayoral poll, which a week later proved to be true. The Herald, The
Chronicle, The Daily News and The Zimbabwe Independent (8/6)
reported that Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa, had
postponed the elections reportedly because the voters’ roll was in a
shambles. But The Daily News headline (8/6), “Anger as
Bulawayo polls are postponed”, was misleading because it
suggested universal anger, when the only anger registered in the
article was expressed by the MDC. It would have been more apt
had the paper interviewed the city’s residents to find out what they
thought.
Whilst the state owned media merely endorsed the government
reasons without question, the privately owned press tried to
investigate clandestine motives behind the decision. The Daily
News, The Independent and The Standard (10/6) in its editorial
comment speculated that ZANU-PF wanted to delay a second
defeat, after losing the Masvingo mayoral poll. They also
speculated over the ruling party’s inability to secure a suitable
candidate, with The Daily News (9/6) quoting George Mlilo
objecting to being elected by the ruling party as their candidate in
absentia: “I have no intention of standing for ZANU PF. I just
can’t.”
Daily News readers who had listened to Radio 2’s lunchtime
bulletin the day before would have been thoroughly confused, since
the radio announced that Mlilo would stand as the ruling party’s
candidate.
A clue to what may have happened was contained in a paragraph
in the daily’s story reporting that Chinamasa had dismissed
charges that ZANU PF had delayed the election because Mlilo had
snubbed the party. (Mlilo was reported to have agreed “on
reflection” to represent the party the following week).
Zimpapers’ coverage of the court proceedings in the ruling party’s
challenge to the Masvingo poll suggested that voting discrepancies
found in the reconciliation of voters would boost the ruling party’s
call for a rerun of the election (The Herald’s, 6/6). But after the
recount and reconciliation, it was discovered that only seven people
from outside Masvingo had voted. And none of the media clearly
reported what was to happen over the objection to the voters’ roll.
The Daily News missed (or ignored) the recount story altogether,
while The Standard (10/6) merely reported that the MDC believed
the recount had yielded “nothing to warrant nullification of the
results.” But the story did not provide a clear explanation why a
report on the voters’ roll was being compiled by the Registrar-
General’s office, or indeed, whether this was being carried out in
accordance with a court order.
ZBC did no better. Its audiences are still in the dark over
developments in the Masvingo case. ZBC merely reported (6/6,
Radio 2 8pm, ZTV Nhau/Indaba & 8pm) that the High Court was re-
examining the Masvingo election papers following ZANU PF’s court
application to nullify the results.

POLITICAL VIOLENCE

Nationwide demonstrations by the Zimbabwe National Students
Union (ZINASU) were underplayed by ZBC. It only reported the
Chinhoyi Technical College demonstration during the week (5/06,
ZTV Nhau/Indaba) and ignored demonstrations in other regions. Nor
did the state broadcaster mention the abduction and torture of
ZINASU president Nkululeko Sibanda. Instead, ZBC reported the
formation of Zimbabwe Progressive Students Union (6/6 ZTV
Nhau/Indaba & 8pm), a new students association whose president
was quoted criticizing ZINASU leadership for habouring political
ambitions. There was no information on who constitutes this new
students association.
President Mugabe’s denunciation of politically motivated violence at
a police event was given prominence on ZBC’s 8pm bulletins (7/6),
thus portraying him to be a man who abhorred such activity. He
challenged the police to take stern measures against perpetrators
of violence. But his statements coincided with The Financial
Gazette’s article claiming that South African, President Thabo
Mbeki, had written a letter to Mugabe stressing that he should
uphold the rule of law. Mugabe, who has been conspicuous by his
silence on violence, gave the impression that he was responding to
Mbeki’s letter. However, President Mbeki was quoted as having
denied The Financial Gazette article (Radio 2, 1pm, 9/6), two days
after it was published.
ZBC reported (9/6, 8pm) that violence broke out at Stoneridge farm
when resettled farmers allegedly attacked war veterans occupying
the farm. The follow-up (10/6, 8pm) quoted war veterans who
warned the farmer to stop instigating violence despite the farmer’s
repeated denial that he had sent his workers to attack the
occupiers. Circumstances leading to the outbreak of violence were
not clear. ZBC’s report stated that war veterans were quick to solve
the matter, in an attempt to portray them as peacemakers. Their
Secretary General Andy Mhlanga was quoted saying that the war
vets would not retaliate and that they would forgive the farm
workers.
In another violence related story, ZBC used Andrew Young’s
comments (5/6, Radio 6pm & 8pm, ZTV 8pm) to downplay the
gravity of the violence that characterized last year’s general
election. Andrew Young who was given five minutes and 40
seconds to comment on the land issue, was quoted saying,
“…When you think of the numbers of people that were killed
in our civil rights movement, black people killed by whites, or
by police, the numbers here are very minimal considering the
radical social change…this is essentially a predominantly a
non-violent social change movement…”

None of the state owned media bothered to question this ludicrous
comparison. Any serious news organization would have accessed
comments from alternative sources about such statements.
Instead, ZBC sought supportive comments from their regular
commentator Prof Mwesiga Baregu (6/6, ZTV 8pm), who stated
that Young’s comments on land were a clear indication that he is
disappointed with the failure by the United States and Britain to
fulfill their promises.

Fresh incidents of politically motivated violence continue to be
recorded in the press, but regrettably, Zimpapers continues to
report them along biased political lines. For example, whilst The
Herald and The Chronicle (6/6) reported the closure of the Mwenezi
District Administrator’s offices by landless peasants and war
veterans, they avoided the fact that the administrator had been
assaulted, a fact reported in The Daily News (6/6).
Similarly, The Herald and Chronicle failed to tell readers of the
alleged abduction, torture and disappearance of ZINASU’s leader,
Nkululeko Sibanda, again reported in The Daily News (8/6) and
(9/6). This is despite the fact that the state-controlled newspapers
have been following the recent student demonstrations, as well as
providing good publicity to the formation of the same splinter
students’ group reported by ZBC.
Elsewhere, The Daily News reported the abduction of the son of the
MDC’s chairperson for Mazowe District, and a new wave of farm
invasions in the Macheke area, as well as the invasion of a farm
belonging to the MDC candidate in Masvingo. The state-controlled
media ignored all these reports.
ENDS

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