/ 15 January 1999

Mugabe tightens his grip on the media

Iden Wetherell

The detention by military police this week of a Harare newspaper editor could signal the beginning of a media crackdown by President Robert Mugabe, who has been angered by press reports of misrule and setbacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Following renewed flak from Zimbabwe’s independent media and a drubbing in the British press last month, Mugabe has moved to tighten his already firm grip on the flow of news from Zimbabwe.

Mark Chavunduka, editor of The Standard, which reported a coup plot within the army and the subsequent arrest of 23 officers, was detained on Tuesday and interrogated at an army barracks on the outskirts of Harare.

At the same time, Minister of Defence Moven Mahachi called journalists in the independent sector “enemies of the state” who were no different from the Congo rebels they appeared to support.

The detention of Chavunduka betrays growing nervousness by authorities in Harare who have recently faced protests and disaffection within the army itself over the war in Congo.

It also underlines the growing role of the military in internal security. Mugabe recently appointed two army officers to head the shadowy Central Intelligence Organisation.

The Ministry of Information has meanwhile scheduled weekly meetings for journalists in the state media to vet stories before they appear.

Minister of Information Chen Chimutengwende confirmed plans were in place to monitor the flow of news, but would not provide details.

His appointment of ministry official Thomas Bvuma as deputy editor of the government’s flagship newspaper, The Herald, already headed by a former official spin doctor, is seen as ring- fencing even the mild criticism of the government ventured by the paper last year after food riots.

The Herald’s suggestion that police handling of the unrest could have been more suave saw editor Tommy Sithole transferred to another post within the Zimpapers group. His replacement by former director of information Bornwell Chakaodza has clearly not satisfied Mugabe, who evidently hopes the country’s problems can be massaged away.

Promises to open up the airwaves have also not been honoured and news bulletins remain dominated by Mugabe’s pronouncements. Even the arrival of a new kid on the block has not diverted the official media from its role as a presidential megaphone.

The entry of Associated Newspapers Zimbabwe (ANZ), a consortium in which Tony O’Reilly’s Independent Newspapers Group is a partner, was expected to shake things up. ANZ publishes a string of regional titles and is scheduled to launch a daily next month.

But in a move calculated to reassure Mugabe, ANZ editor-in-chief Geoff Nyarota has signalled that his newspapers will not intrude into private lives, while regional editors straying from set parameters have already felt the crack of the head office whip.

Despite attempts by ANZ management to play down the O’Reilly connection, reports suggest considerable managerial input emanates from the Independent Group’s Johannesburg office. Mugabe has been a guest at O’Reilly’s estate in Ireland and observers have noted some of Mugabe’s more anti-British statements on land have an Irish dimension.

Within hours of senior ministers assuring diplomats on New Year’s Eve that the government would follow the law in its land acquisition policy, Mugabe told the same diplomats at a reception that he would not be providing compensation, as the law requires, for the farms acquired.

With Mugabe and his ministers singing from different hymn sheets, the government’s gloss merchants have their work cut out. Despite Mugabe’s claims that Zimbabwe’s poor performance can be attributed to a conspiracy by currency speculators and El Nio, most Zimbabweans are now aware of where the problem really lies.

Stayaways by trade union members last year, protesting against the government’s economic mismanagment, saw a complete shutdown of industry. Mugabe responded by banning any further civic protest.

While attending a Franco-African summit in Paris, he issued a decree outlawing strikes motivated by political grievances. But like the latest media clamp, this absolutist measure will hold only a very flimsy lid on the seething cauldron of national discontent.