**Updates IFEX alert of 6 March 2000** (MISA/IFEX) – The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) condemned Zimbabwe Newspapers Ltd. (Zimpapers) and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) for what it alleged to be “the worst failings of the publicly funded media.” The MMPZ referred to ZBC’s censoring of the announcement made on 2 March 2000 […]
**Updates IFEX alert of 6 March 2000**
(MISA/IFEX) – The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) condemned Zimbabwe Newspapers Ltd. (Zimpapers) and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) for what it alleged to be “the worst failings of the publicly funded media.”
The MMPZ referred to ZBC’s censoring of the announcement made on 2 March 2000 by Minister of Home Affairs Dumiso Dabengwa, and Zimpapers’ trend of “giving prominence only to the voice of the government, the war veterans and their leader”.
At issue is the unlawful incursion on privately owned farms by war veterans following the recent rejection of the draft constitution that would have allowed for expropriation of farms by the state. The Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) reported that some 386 farms were affected over the past month.
In a total of 23 Zimpapers articles on the subject, the MMPZ reported that government officials were quoted 20 times, war veterans 18 times, and the affected farmers and their respective organisations twice and four times, respectively. MMPZ alleged that Zimpapers repeatedly quoted war veterans who stated that the farm invasions were the result of the rejection of the draft constitution.
“None of the publicly funded media examined the lack of a sustainable land redistribution policy as being the root cause of the problem”, MMPZ said. “Neither the legality of the invasions nor whether they are a sustainable solution to the land problem were questioned”.
Background Information
On 2 March, the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) television station failed to report an announcement made by Minister of Home Affairs Dumiso Dabengwa. Dabengwa’s announcement ordered war veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence to evacuate the white-owned commercial farms they had illegally invaded “with immediate effect.”
However, ZBC’s news bulletin did include an announcement by President Robert Mugabe stating that the government would not take action against the war veterans. According to Inter Press Services (IPS), Dabengwa had consulted Mugabe on the matter, saying that ”farm owners deserve government support like everyone else.”
