/ 19 July 2013

Zimbabwe state media’s scribes make a show for Zanu-PF

Zimbabwe State Media's Scribes Make A Show For Zanu Pf

Management at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) and Zimbabwe Newspapers Limited (Zimpapers), the two state media organisations largely controlled by the information ministry, recently gave all employees Zanu-PF campaign T-shirts and baseball caps, and instructed them to wear them at rallies when on duty.

Several ZBC and Zimpapers journalists covering President Robert Mugabe’s rallies were this week spotted wearing Zanu-PF campaign clothing.

Sources at the Herald claimed Zimpapers chief executive Justin Mutasa brought the campaign regalia to the company last week and instructed managers to issue the clothing to subordinates.

Critics in civil society said the supplying of Zanu-PF regalia gives credence to suggestions that both institutions are part of Zanu-PF’s propaganda machinery.

Mutasa, who has on several occasions been seen clad in Zanu-PF regalia, was not immediately available to comment.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has since 2008 been pushing for the reconstitution of the ZBC and Zimpapers, accusing them of being partisan.

In 2010, the Cabinet ordered Webster Shamu, the minister of media, information and publicity, to reconstitute the boards of the ZBC, but this has not been done.

In a meeting this week with Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum observers for the election, Tafataona Mahoso, the chief executive of the Zimbabwe Media Commission, defended state media, saying it is wrong to say it is partisan in favour of Mugabe.

Some delegates raised questions about why the ZBC always portrayed Mugabe and Zanu-PF in a positive light, but did not do the same for the MDC. Mahoso said state media is defending national objectives as enshrined in the new Constitution.

He said state media would not sit on its laurels if some political ­players, particularly in the MDC-T, were opposed to land reform, the indigenisation exercise and ­economic sanctions.