Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
Monday 11th – Sunday 17th August 2003
Media weekly update 2003-32

Contents:
Dialogue of deceit
Signing up for travellers’ cheques

General comment
The Media Monitoring Project deplores recent incidents in which journalists from the privately owned media were allegedly harassed and assaulted by overzealous members of the police force and supporters of ZANU PF.
The Daily News (11/8) reported that a journalist with the Kwekwe based privately owned Midlands Observer, Flata Kavinga, sustained “a deep cut on the head and sustained multiple body injuries” after he was assaulted by suspected ZANU PF supporters. According to Kavinga, the suspects accused him of peddling messages that were anti-government through his paper and through the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) T-shirt he was wearing. The police confirmed the incident.
In another incident, Studio 7 (14/8) reported that its freelance journalist, Fazilla Mohammed, was detained by the police for several hours and released without charge. The station reported that Mohammed had gone to cover a court case at the Harare civil courts when suspected police officers picked her up and bundled her into a truck.
MMPZ condemns these violent and intimidating acts, which terrorize journalists and impedes them from gathering and disseminating information. MMPZ expects the police to bring to justice those responsible for the crude and brutal assault on Kavinga.
MMPZ believes any attempt to interfere with media workers conducting their business in a lawful manner is an assault on the free flow of information and therefore undermines the foundations of democratic society.
Meanwhile, MMPZ notes that with barely two weeks to go before local government elections and two parliamentary by-elections, the media has yet to give adequate coverage to the process. For example, ZTV only carried six reports (7am, 6pm &8pm bulletins) throughout the week on the issue. Three of the stories were on ZANU PF activities and the remainder were on the ESC’s preparations. None were on the MDC campaign activities.
The trend was similar on both Radio Zimbabwe and 3FM. They also carried six reports in their main news bulletins. Five were on ZANU PF campaign activities while one was on the accreditation of election observers.
No incidents of violence were reported on ZBC.
The Press carried 15 stories on the forthcoming polls. Eight of these were in the private Press while seven were in the government-controlled papers. Two incidents of violence were each reported by The Daily News and The Manica Post. The Daily News report presented the MDC as the victim of violence while the opposite was true in The Manica Post report.

Dialogue of deceit
As in previous weeks, coverage of ongoing efforts to bring the MDC and ZANU PF to the negotiating table was largely characterised by a lack of in-depth analysis of the unfolding events. For example, none of the media fully exposed ZANU PF’s covert attempts to delay the talks by making additional demands on the MDC instead of reciprocating the opposition’s attempts to ease the tension between the two parties. None of them highlighted the fact that apart from the economic meltdown, there was seemingly no internal pressure on ZANU PF to treat the negotiations as a matter of urgency.
Also, there was inadequate information on the progress of the behind-the-scenes contacts, previously reported by the private media. Neither did the media ask the MDC how long it was prepared to wait for the evidently reluctant ZANU PF to come to the negotiating table.
As a result, media coverage on the issue degenerated into event reporting, which largely lacked a holistic approach.
Although all media was guilty of such shortcomings, the private media generally fared better by regularly updating their audiences on the latest developments and trying to analyse them intelligently.
On the other hand, the government-controlled media simply parroted ZANU PF’s position without any interrogation. Their coverage of President Mugabe’s Heroes Day speech was a case in point.
ZBC (11/8, 6 &8pm), The Herald and Chronicle (12/08) merely quoted Mugabe describing the MDC as “enemies of the people” and urging the opposition leaders to “repent” before they could work with ZANU PF. They did not fully explore the underlying implications such statements were likely to have on the possibilities of dialogue. Neither did they seek comment from the MDC.
But The Daily News (12/08), which also ran Mugabe’s statements, did. It quoted MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube as saying Mugabe’s “remarks disable the dialogue process.”
The Standard (17/8) agreed and quoted some MDC officials as having said Mugabe’s statements “demonstrate that he is not earnest in seeing Zimbabwe’s multi layered crisis laid to rest”.
In fact, The Sunday Mail and Sunday News (17/08) exposed ZANU PF’s deceit. The papers quoted party chairman John Nkomo as saying: “ZANU PF will not be forced to draft an agenda by anybody, or be blamed for not coming up with an agenda for the talks… As far as ZANU PF is concerned, the fact that the MDC has drafted its agenda is none of our business. We will not be bothered by that and we do not wish the church leaders to tell us how to conduct our business.”
Instead of questioning these evidently defensive remarks, the Sunday News (17/8) simply retreated into irrelevant speculation: “Observers say the MDC is itching to talk to ZANU PF because its political survival and that of Mr Tsvangirai is uncertain after US President George Bush recently showed a lack of determination to effect ‘regime change’ in Zimbabwe”.
The Daily News (14/8) however, quoted MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai dismissing the notion that the MDC was in a desperate position, saying the party still had an alternative; “ … if we fail to make a breakthrough in the talks then we will resort to mass action.”
Except for The Sunday Mail, the government-controlled media ignored this statement. Even then, the paper’s article, Tsvangirai should get real, seemed to dismiss the talks by childishly insulting MDC officials, describing them as “fools” found “in abundance” within the party.
It added: “It would be a waste of time for ZANU PF to enter into talks with MDC knowing full well … they have been sent by the British…”
Further, the paper’s Under the Surface column appeared to take a cue from Nkomo’s statements and discredited the church-led initiative, saying, “These men of God should not waste any of their time. The bid to get into history books through the talks has failed.”
This clear anti-talks stance also manifested itself in the way the government-controlled media covered the brief visit of Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano in his capacity as chairman of the African Union. They failed to link the visit to the possibility of mounting external pressure on both domestic parties to find a solution to the country’s crises through dialogue. Their reports on the event lacked clarity on the exact reasons behind Chissano’s stop-over on his way from overseeing Liberia’s dictator Charles Taylor surrender power in Monrovia.
ZBC (12/8, 8pm) merely reported that Chissano was in Zimbabwe to update Mugabe, in his capacity as the Vice-Chairman of the African Union, on the situation in Liberia. The report did not state whether the other four vice-chairmen of the AU had been briefed as well.
ZTV and 3FM audiences only got a hint on the possible reasons for Chissano’s visit when the Mozambican leader told ZBC that apart from discussing the Liberian crisis, the two leaders had also talked about Zimbabwe’s problems. He was quoted as saying: “ I am under the impression now after talking to President Mugabe (that) there is certain movement towards improvement of… the political situation in the country…”
There was no attempt to unravel what political improvements Chissano was referring to.
The Herald (13/8) report was not helpful either. It reported that Chissano was in the country “to be briefed about the situation in Zimbabwe” and quoted him as saying, “Zimbabwe requires a lot of support so that all reforms succeed… I hope we will continue to engage all parties concerned in Zimbabwe so that a way is found”.
Still, there was no elaboration on the reforms Chissano was referring to.
Only the private Press gave a clue to what he was talking about and viewed it in the context of the possibility of dialogue between ZANU PF and the MDC (The Daily News, 13/8).
The Zimbabwe Independent (15/8) observed that Chissano’s reference to “political reforms” in Zimbabwe suggested that there was behind-the-scenes pressure on ZANU PF to resolve the crisis. Notably, the government media ignored the fact that the Mozambican leader had referred to political reforms.
Meanwhile, The Zimbabwe Independent reported that apart from Mugabe’s demand that the MDC should ‘repent’ before dialogue could resume, he also wanted a constitutional reform that would “provide ring-fencing measures to protect him from prosecution for human rights abuses”.
The paper also revealed that while the government-controlled media gave the impression that ZANU PF holds all four aces on the negotiating table, the desperate need for donor assistance to save the country from total collapse could be the party’s Achilles heel. It quoted an unnamed senior diplomat saying, “There will be no relief from donors or multilateral lenders until there is evidence of political consensus”.
The Daily News on Sunday (17/8) reported that besides the dire need for donor assistance, pressure from the international community could also force ZANU PF to the negotiating table. The paper reported that Germany was making fresh efforts to take the Zimbabwean question to the UN Security Council while the US was said to have embarked on a diplomatic drive to “thaw relations between ZANU PF and MDC ahead of moves to push for partial constitutional reforms which will see a transitional arrangement after President Mugabe has stepped down”.
However, it emerged that while the international community was exerting pressure on Mugabe to leave office, SADC’s perception of the MDC, as a stooge of the West, was one of the stumbling blocks to an urgent regional resolution to Zimbabwe’s problems. All dailies (15/8) reported that a study by the Africa Institute of South Africa had revealed that southern African countries were resisting pressure from foreign powers because they feared that “there is some attempt at regime change in Zimbabwe”. While The Daily News went further and quoted the research co-ordinator as saying the countries had taken such a position to protect their own selfish interests, the government-controlled dailies used the findings to justify Mugabe’s hard-line stance that the MDC should “repent” before the resumption of talks.

Signing up for travellers’ cheques
The government-controlled media’s coverage of the recently introduced travellers’ cheques as substitutes for cash, merely endorsed government’s latest bizarre efforts to solve the cash shortages and largely blamed retailers and the central bank for the confusion surrounding usage of the cheques. The finance ministry, under which the central bank falls, was spared the rod.
For example, ZTV (15/08, 8pm) reported the introduction of the travellers’ cheques as a “welcome development aimed at alleviating the cash shortage” without fully exploring problems associated with the move.
The Herald (11/8) was equally unquestioning. Its comment, Accept new travellers’ cheques, hailed the decision saying it was only “being negated by those businesses and service providers who refuse to accept the new travellers’ cheques”.
The next day, its business supplement, The Herald Business narrowly blamed the central bank for failing to put in place “ the proper logistics with the intended end users and recipients” of the cheques. The paper also accused the Reserve Bank of failing to carry out a thorough information campaign on the TCs, resulting in confusion in their usage.
Although The Standard and The Sunday Mirror (17/8) concurred, they also blamed government. For instance, The Sunday Mirror pointed out that “Government should have educated us on how to use the cheques before imposing everything on us.”
The Standard went further and denounced the move saying it was “yet another fragmented and piecemeal solution” to the country’s economic problems. The paper noted that the introduction of cheques was an indication of “government’s mounting desperation and lack of ideas…”
Zimbabwe Chamber of Commerce official Danny Meyer was quoted saying the move would enhance Zimbabwe’s chances of “storming into the Guinness Book of Records if the country can run its monetary system on TCs”, adding “changing the colour of currency will not solve anything”.
The Business Tribune (15/8) revealed that government was so desperate to ease the cash crisis that it broke its own laws in the process. It pointed out that the introduction of travellers’ cheques “was done in breach of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act” because neither the President nor the Finance Minister had gazetted the move.
However, the central bank denied this saying the Act governing its operations has paragraphs that granted it authority to issue travellers’ cheques (The Herald, 16/08). But the paper failed to cite what those sections of the law stipulated. Instead, it quoted Information Minister Jonathan Moyo congratulating the central bank for “a job well done”, typically adding a sinister tone, saying “everyone else should assist and co-operate unless they have a hidden agenda”. Radio Zimbabwe (16/08, 1pm) followed suit.
This slavish support for government policies also emerged in the government-controlled media’s attempts to create the impression that other government measures were bearing fruit.
The Herald (13/8) reported that the decision to phase out the $500 note and replace it with a new one and a new $1000 note was the “tonic that the country needs” to ease the cash shortage.
As proof, it claimed: “Barely two weeks after the announcement (to phase out the current $500 bills) there have been reports that the $500 notes had started trickling in…”
However, The Daily News on Sunday, quoting an unnamed bank official, rebuffed the claim: “We haven’t seen any significant inflows of the $500 notes back into the system…”
Similarly, Studio 7 (14/08) quoted an unidentified bank teller saying, “…there is no money in the banks. No one is coming with cash, people are just depositing cheques…”
The Weekend Tribune (16/8) also noted that, “A 60-day ultimatum by government to hand in $500 notes… does not seem to be doing the trick” as people are “still holding on to their money”.
The paper also quoted an unnamed foreign currency dealer denying government-controlled media claims that that they were holding on to billions worth of cash: “We don’t stash money in our homes… I can’t buy or sell foreign currency to my clients because of cash shortages”, she said.
In fact, The Daily News (13/8) highlighted that, contrary to the impression created by the government-controlled media, cash shortages were so severe that the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions was threatening mass action over the issue. Studio 7 (15/8) also carried the story.
As the week ended none of the media challenged government’s logic behind printing travellers cheques using the same paper it could use to print scarce bank notes.
Ends

The MEDIA UPDATE was produced and circulated by the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe, 15 Duthie Avenue, Alexandra Park, Harare, Tel/fax: 263 4 703702, E-mail: [email protected] [2]; [email protected] [3]

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