Wheat shortfalls – Herald blames Quelea birds

e newspapers carried stories pegged to official rhetoric and condemnation, while presenting the doctors as self-important, ungrateful and insensitive. For the ludicrous, The Herald singled out “power cuts” and “Quelea birds” as the major reasons why winter wheat targets will be missed.
People relying on state propaganda heard not a word about the struggle to find a solution – or in this case a temporary sticking plaster – to one fallout from hyperinflation: the inability of computer systems to deal with all the noughts.
The Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) said in its report covering July 17-24 that it all underlined “the information gap created by the country’s restrictive media environment,”.
“While the government media gave these important stories superficial coverage or ignored them, the private media, especially the niche market private radio stations and online agencies, openly discussed these issues,” MMPZ added.
On the currency, The Financial Gazette and the Independent reported that the available software cannot handle the strings of zeroes and quoted government officials and economists as confirming this. The Independent said businesses have proposed slashing three zeroes on local dollar transactions to create a “kilo dollar” to make things easier. ZimOnline summed it up with a cartoon depicting two men discussing this, and one saying, “Wouldn’t it be better to remove six zeroes?”
The state media avoided any open discussion of the precarious food situation, resorting instead to Quelea birds or, in the case of ZBH, bombarding listeners with the usual official calls to use the land and such like.
The monitors said, however, that apart from the Mirror group, the private media balanced the official rhetoric on food supplies with their own investigations and alternative views.
The Gazette revealed that, belying the regime’s upbeat projections, agricultural productivity is down. The paper charted in the slump in wheat, grain and tobacco crops, and said that at least US$35 million would be needed for maize imports alone this year. Newzimbabwe.com quoted the MDC as agreeing, and ZimOnline and Zimdaily.com published a report by the Consortium for Southern Africa Food Security Emergency that most rural families will need food aid because of poor harvest and unemployment.
MMPZ said the private electronic media “compromised their slant” by failing to seek official comment. The monitors, however, paid tribute to the online agencies for making an important contribution in exposing misrule and human rights abuses.
An important story reported by ZimOnline and one that this state media would not touch with the proverbial barge pole was Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa last month instructing the Attorney General to drop charges of political violence by Zanu (PF) supporters and state agents as prosecutions would “confirm claims by the MDC and human rights groups of rampant violence and victimisation of the opposition.”
ZimOnline said Chinamasa said he was acting on instructions from Robert Mugabe and threatened Attorney General Sobuza Gula-Ndebele with “serious consequences.” Unnamed sources claimed the AG had refused the instruction and told prosecutors to speed up work on all political violence cases, including those involving Zanu (PF).