REMARKS by Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo that ZANU PF’s resounding victory in the July 31 2013 harmonised elections created a new environment similar to that one of 1980 when the country attained independence are an indicator of Government’s efforts to shape the country going forward.
The media should be the focal point in driving the agenda for the country’s development, but what we have seen thus far goes contrary to this thrust.
There have been efforts by Western nations, working with their local proxies, to frustrate these efforts to uplift the lives of the majority since the turn of the millennium when the country’s leaders embarked on various economic empowerment programmes.
With Zimbabwe facing a negative perception challenge, the country has failed to attract investment and boost its economy that was and still is hampered by the rampant effects of isolation and economic sanctions.
The media has played its part in tarnishing the country’s image.
It has divided the nation.
Prof Moyo told a discussion organised by the country’s media regulator, the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) to commemorate World Press Freedom Day last Friday that ZANU PF’s victory created an opportunity for the country to forge ahead as a united people.
“We have a new environment again,” said Prof Moyo.
“As the one we had in 1980.
“In fact, we have some kind of spirit of 1980 prevailing in our country and from where we sit, the resounding victory of ZANU PF in the last harmonised general elections has created an opportunity for us to go back to the beginning again so that we can start to try and find each other again as Zimbabweans outside the partisan box, outside of party politics such that we have a new environment.
“How long it will last depends on what we can do about it and each day goes without us doing something serious is a cost.”
While the ink had not dried up on Professor Moyo’s presentation, we had yet another classical example of how the media does not take the national question seriously.
In an opinion piece published by a local daily, Daily News, the writer Conrad Nyamutata tries, but fails to distort Prof Moyo’s message.
“In Moyo’s view, the lack of media consent could be the cause of the refusal by international finance institutions to support Zimbabwe,” writes Nyamutata.
“However, if ever consent is to be ‘manufactured’, it is worth looking at the causes of media polarisation.”
The lack of media consent has largely been due to the attempt by some to deny existing truths about our country.
We have been involved in a battle to wrestle control of our land and economy from whites.
We have been involved in war to chart and determine our destiny as a sovereign state.
But some have taken sides, in the process running away from the truth.
They do so to please Western nations who are opposed to President Mugabe’s rule.
How many times have some sections of the local media celebrated the collapse of the country due to the illegal economic sanctions against the country?
How many times has that part of the media shunned important national events like Independence Day and Heroes and Defence Forces Days because they are angry with the ZANU PF government?
How many times have they hidden under the banner of ‘independent’ media so that they can criticise President Mugabe and ZANU PF?
Yes it is true Nyamutata that consent can never be manufactured but is it not also true that the country is under siege from Western nations?
Is it not true that April 18, 1980 is Independence Day for all Zimbabweans?
So where does the media meet when some refuse to acknowledge even their independence day?
How do we find each other when there is blatant denial of the involvement of outsiders in the country’s internal affairs by the so-called independent media?
Prof Moyo said Zimbabwe’s background of polarisation has had a negative effect on the country’s standing in the global economy.
“We have come from a background of serious polarisation, we have not just a polarised media, but a polarised society, and if we have to do something about this and we have to try and find whether the new constitution helps us do something about this problem of polarisation,” he said.
“We need to do something about it because it has kind of damaged us as a country, certainly we have heard from the Minister of Finance that this has increased the cost of offshore money, it has increased the cost of doing business in our country, raising our sovereign risk.”
Where do we go from here now that there has been a call for the media to unite?
Do we continue on the same path of destruction or we change course and take the country forward?