Reports in both the local State-controlled print and electronic media have deliberately distorted the main thrust and purpose of Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s official trip overseas.
A false and clearly malicious impression is being created to form the opinion that PM Tsvangirai has been mandated by Robert Mugabe to travel to Europe and the United States of America to specifically call for the lifting of ” sanctions” that the MDC had purportedly called for in the first instance.
The rabid and pathetic propaganda doesn’t end there.A desperate and wicked attempt is made to denigrate both the person and the office of the Prime Minister.
It is this type of dangerous and myopic approach to news dissemination that will ultimately prove to be the most lethal poison to the institution that we call the inclusive government in Zimbabwe.In its front page story on Tuesday, June 9, 2009,The Herald newspaper reports that PM Tsvangirai was in the Netherlands on a brief from Mugabe and Cabinet to call for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Whilst I am not a cabinet minister and I am therefore not privy to the deliberations of Cabinet,I have every reason to challenge the allegation that Mugabe and Cabinet have mandated PM Tsvangirai to travel abroad to call for the lifting of ”sanctions”.
I have conversed with a number of Cabinet ministers and none of them was able to give legitimacy and credibility to The Herald story that I am referring to herein.In short,therefore,The Herald story is deliberately distorting the main purpose of the PM’s current visit overseas.
I am not surprised by the die-hard attitude that still prevails in certain quarters of the State-controlled media.Most of those people who had made it a career to be ZANU(PF) praise-singers are still in control at both Zimpapers and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings.
With the greatest of respect to some of these people; they lack basic intelligence and foresight.They are still wearing their parochial blinkers and they seem not to be aware that wherever you go in Zimbabwe today,things are in change mode.These unfortunate people,for some pathetically sad reason,seem to still think that Mugabe is solely in charge and that Tsvangirai is just an errand boy.
These delusional characters still believe that somehow, both Mugabe and ZANU(PF) will manage to re-invent themselves and make themselves popular again amongst the majority of Zimbabweans; both within the country and in the Diaspora.They can dream on.I have stated it before and I will repeat it here and now; Mugabe and ZANU(PF) are yesterday’s people ; they cannot and will never win any genuinely free and fair election in Zimbabwe now and in the future.
The MDC, ably led by Morgan Tsvangirai,buried ZANU(PF) at the polls during the harmonised elections that were held in Zimbabwe on March 29,2008.From then onwards,ZANU(PF) is mortally and fatally wounded.This is a party that is hopelessly faction-ridden to such an extent that the centre can clearly no longer hold.I sometimes wonder how many parties are within ZANU(PF)!
The several factions in ZANU(PF) make it very difficult to imagine how this party can live to successfully contest another election against a formidable party such as the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
Put in its proper context,therefore,the desperate attempt by the ZANU(PF) spin doctors at the State-controlled media to paint PM Tsvangirai as a weak appendage of the inclusive government clearly has got no takers.
The global political agreement(GPA) marked the beginning of the end of Mugabe’s imperial Presidency.Section 20.1.1 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No) 19 states that ” The Executive Authority of the Inclusive Government shall vest in,and be shared among the President,the Prime Minister and the Cabinet,as provided for in this Constitution and legislation.” Surely,for any right-thinking person to therefore think that PM Tsvangirai is Mugabe’s errand boy clearly boggles the mind!
That there is a crying and urgent need for a serious paradigm shift within the State-controlled media cannot be over-emphasised.Infact,Zimbabwe doesnot need a State-controlled media.
What we need,urgently,is a responsible and professional public media that will truly articulate and tell the true Zimbabwe story without fear or favour.A partisan,corrupt,inefficient and lazy State-controlled media is a dangerous and lethal poison to the institution of the inclusive government.
Going forward,it may be necessary to wean off some these propagandists from the State-controlled media since they are working at a tangent to the project to rebuild and re-brand Zimbabwe.I am not advocating retribution.I do not believe in the primitive notion of an eye for an eye since that will obviuosly leave all of us blind.
All I am stating is that if certain individuals at the State-controlled media cannot embrace the new political dispensation in Zimbabwe then they should do the honourable thing and proceed to resign.
I am a member of the Parliament of Zimbabwe’s Standing Rules and Orders Committee (SROC) and I am very pleased to note that we are moving at supersonic speed to ensure that the new Zimbabwe Media Commission is set up as a matter of urgency.
At our last meeting held in Harare on Monday, June 1, 2009 I was quite pleased when Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara forcefully argued that the first constitutional commission to be set up should be the Zimbabwe Media Commission.
He argued that even the present constitution-making process can be thrown into serious jeopardy if we fail to urgently appoint the Zimbabwe Media Commission.I totally associate myself with DPM Mutambara’s sentiments on this issue.Surely,Zimbabwe needs a new media regime if we are to move forward as a nation.The days of media hangmen such as those located in the now defunct Media and Information Commission (MIC) led by one Tafataona Mahoso should be placed in the dustbin of history because that is precisely where they belong.
The Zimbabwe Media Commission,according to Section 100P of the Constitution of Zimbabwe,has five(5) main functions and these are:
-to uphold and develop freedom of the press;and
-to promote and enforce good practice and ethics in the press,print and electronic media,and broadcasting;and
-to ensure that the people of Zimbabwe have equitable and wide access to information; and
-to ensure the equitable use and development of all indigenous languages spoken in Zimbabwe; and
-to exercise any other functions that may be conferred or imposed on the Commission by or under an Act of Parliament.
Thus,the important role of the Zimbabwe Media Commission in the democratisation agenda cannot be over-emphasised.As long as both the mainstream and privately-owned media remain polarised Zimbabwe will remain stuck in stagnation.It doesnt make any sense to have only one local television station( that is State-controlled) almost three decades after independence.
This makes us a laughing stock both in Africa and globally.For now,both Zimpapers and ZBH should simply accept that like him or hate him,PM Tsvangirai is the prime mover and shacker in Zimbabwe’s present political discourse.He is the man of the moment.He is presently overseas not as Mugabe’s errand boy but as the legitimate and hugely popular Prime Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe.This is the cold hard fact that the propagandists at both Zimpapers and ZBH should quickly learn to live with.
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