Media watchdog concerned by upsurge of ZANU PF hate speech

By Violet Gonda
17 September 2009

Media watchdog, the Media Institute for Southern Africa – Zimbabwe, has expressed grave concern over the upsurge of hate speech against the private media and perceived opponents, by members of ZANU PF and the state controlled media.

Earlier this week army commander, Lieutenant-General Phillip Valerio Sibanda, berated foreign based Zimbabwean radio stations, accusing them of being at war with Zimbabwe and urged the military to ‘guard against them’. This has been widely seen as meaning that journalists broadcasting into Zimbabwe are legitimate military targets because they threaten the state.

The Chairman of MISA, Loughty Dube, said General Sibanda’s statements were both dangerous and reckless and these statement could give the green light to soldiers to directly target journalists. He said hate speech should be condemned as it has the potential to destroy communities. The chairman also appealed to journalists to stop using unethical language that could incite hatred against other groups. Dube said: “There has been an upsurge in the use of hate speech by the state media, especially in the opinion columns.”

The media watchdog said this is one of the reasons the self regulatory body, the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe, was created - where journalists are bound by a code of conduct to subscribe to. Unfortunately the entirety of the state media has refused to be part of this council, which would provide a mechanism for dealing with unprofessional journalists.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC continue to be denigrated and berated, especially in the opinion pieces published in the Herald newspaper, in spite of being a partner in the new government.

It’s reported that the Prime Minister laid the blame squarely on Robert Mugabe’s press secretary George Charamba, who he accused of leading a media campaign to undermine and deepen mistrust in the coalition government. Zimonline quotes Tsvangirai saying: "The problem is not with state media editors. George Charamba is the problem and he is behaving as a commissar of an anti-reform group. This can prove a dangerous group if not reined in. I have told Mugabe that this cannot go on. Mugabe cannot allow his own spokesman to exhibit such behaviour if he is genuinely interested in making this government work."

Dube said it is shocking to hear the Prime Minister, who is supposed to be in control of all aspects of government, talking about how Charamba has all this control over the state media. He said the state media is a public entity which should be guided by principles of serving the public, and should not be controlled by a single man.