I am not very sure what exactly it was that made him decide to harass the media like that in Masvingo, but I am convinced the verbal blitz left a trail of questions for all prying minds. To start with, the Old Man was obviously hazy about this thing called the media. It seemed he was limiting his understanding to the unofficial or private media.
It clearly didn’t occur to him the media also included the Herald, Sunday Mail and ZTV, otherwise he wouldn’t have talked like that. The last time I checked, these three, as examples, were not doing anything that would warrant being accused of working against Zanu (PF) and the Old Man.
In fact, when the news of the rally was run, I had just read a statement from MDC-T indicating that ZTV was refusing to flight a Morgan Tsvangirai advert in which he featured together with his wife. That, surely, does not prove that ZTV is anti-Mugabe.
But then, as an avid reader of all the private local newspapers, I don’t remember coming across any content that showed that the writers and editors were acting as PR conduits for other political parties. If Mugabe has the evidence, I challenge him to produce it in court, particularly the ConCourt where everything seems to be happening these days.
The President seems to be under the impression that anything critical of him, as are my words in this article, are anti-Mugabe. That would be the worst fallacy any apostolic sect garment wearing head of state can ever commit.
What is good for the goose should be good for the gander. If the public media are, almost every minute, singing his praises and lambasting other political parties, then the Old Man should see and hear that. If the print is too small for his eyes, I don’t see why he shouldn’t send Webster Shamu out with the stick to Herald House and make the editors increase the font size.
But talking of the private houses as though they were the only media in the county should not come as a surprise. That is the reason the Zanu (PF) government made AIPPA and said it was a media law. The truth, of course, is that AIPPA was made to deal with the private media, which Zanu (PF) has always considered a criminal phenomenon.
The official media is, in their eyes, a propaganda platform for themselves. Thus, when it derides other political parties and denies them space, in direct defiance of the laws of the land, there is no problem. That is good for the goose; the gander can fly into the sea and drown, for all Mugabe and his party care.
By launching the attack on the private media, which he wrongly assumes is “the media”, it did not occur to Mugabe that he was opening a can of worms. As the AU rightly pointed out last Friday in its pre-election report, much still needs to be done to ensure that the media law is refined to ensure a free and fair election. That has not happened because President Mugabe forgot to proclaim a new or no AIPPA. Now, that is bad news for the legitimacy of the July 31 election. Why then should Mugabe talk as if he is a saint and the devils reside in the private media? That is crass hypocrisy, isn’t it?
There is nothing sacrosanct about him or his party. Because the media that unashamedly fights from his corner is so dirty, he shouldn’t expect the private media to be clean. The onus is on him to prove that the private media are the foot soldiers for parties other than Zanu (PF), but I haven’t seen that.
Mugabe’s house is made of thatch, and he should not start hurling petrol bombs. If he really wants legitimacy around the coming elections, and the first thing he should do is stop unfairly criticising the private media. – For feedback, please write to majonitt@gmail.com
Post published in: Opinions & Analysis