The papers are desperate to convince people that if they are hungry it is not because the seizures of commercial farms have dealt a devastating blow to food production, it’s because of sanctions, which in truth are nothing more than a travel ban on Mugabe and his cronies.
They claim that the State-sponsored political violence is all the fault of the MDC, even though it is the MDC’s supporters who end up dead or in hospital.
But the core of the propaganda is to portray the June 27 presidential election run off as a “titanic fight” to maintain Zimbabwe’s independence in the face of British attempts to recolonise it.
One State newspaper calls the election a “do or die tussle” between Mugabe and Great Britain, never mind that the opinion polls show that most people are more worried about inflation, food shortages and unemployment.
Everywhere there are reminders of the liberation war. Music videos, popular for their suggestive dancing, have been replaced by “war songs” and grainy film of the struggle for independence.
The prime time slot on ZTV is now dominated by Zanu (PF) propaganda programmes such as Dzimbahwe, Ndangariro Dzehondo, Chimurenga Music and Melting Pot, programmes aimed at whipping up nationalist indignation. Its as if the MDC does not exist.
Chimurenga Music is a musical on State TV that is currently being dominated by Hosiah Chipanga’s hero-worshipping song, Gushungo, which absolves Mugabe for vandalizing Zimbabwe’s economy, blaming instead his cronies.
“VaMugabe vane munyama, Kupiwa mhosva isiri yavo, Mapurazi mashanu mashanu, wakanga watumwa nani? Mabarwe kupiwa wotengesa, wakanga watumwa nani?” sings Chipanga in the song extolling the virtues of the embattled leader.
Other programmes typically feature known sycophantic pro-Zanu (PF) panelists such as media analyst Tafataona Mahoso, Claude Mararike who teaches sociology at the University of Zimbabwe, Vimbai Chivaura, who lectures English and Sheunesu Mupepereki of the Department of Soil Science at the UZ.
Once in a while, MDC panellists are invited but their contributions are repeatedly interrupted by the moderator.
On the other hand, State papers are conjuring up conspiracy theories and claim that if Mugabe wins the run off, Britain is planning to use its bases in Botswana from which its army can invade Zimbabwe.
“The MDC has requested British military intervention if it loses the election and many right-thinking Zimbabweans are worried to the bone,” the Sunday Mail says, claiming that Mugabe is, of course, more than up to the task of leading the fight, even at 84.
“He has since independence turned the people of Zimbabwe into an anvil upon which British imperial perfidy has painfully knocked its head in repeated failures,” the paper declares.
Post published in: News