Unmasking ‘Operation Dzikisai Madhishi’By Abel Dzobo
13/06/08
ZANU PF’s determination to strangle and streamline the communicative spaces in Zimbabwe has allegedly taken a new twist through the deplorable “Operation Dzikisai Madhishi”, a purge aimed at satellite dishes such that in the run-up to this month’s Presidential run-off election, government-controlled ZBC TV can enjoy monopoly in news coverage.
This move is believed to be a ploy to ensure that all Zimbabweans watch ZBC TV, where ZANU PF is confident that the combative Happison Muchechetere, who has been put at the helm, will broadcast programmes that forward its cause, unlike the era under the recently dismissed Henry Muradzikwa.
Muchechetere is a trusted ZANU PF lieutenant who succeeded former ZBC boss Henry Muradzikwa who was fired last month for allegedly failing to use the state broadcaster to successfully campaign for President Robert Mugabe, who lost to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the March 29 presidential election.
But it is the blitz on satellite dishes that has raised the ire of the populace and civic groups as evidence that the party will go to great lengths, despite how crooked, to win the June 27 election.
Satellite dishes, such as DSTV, Wiztech and Fortec Star, among others, mushroomed in the country as the fairly affluent citizens sought to evade the ZANU PF propaganda clout, championed by ZBC TV.
Nonetheless, like with the print media, where online and foreign newspapers have flourished, satellite dishes were bought such that citizens could have the other side of the story.
Foreign news stations, among them BBC and CNN, were banned from ZBC TV in 2000, during Professor Jonathan Moyo’s tenure as Information Minister, a development which was extolled as a noble move to consolidate communicative sovereignty.
Ironically, that communicative sovereignty has been ceded as propounded by ZUJ President Matthew Takaona in his May 3 2008 Press Freedom Day speech in which he heralded Zimbabwean media’s spectacular fall from grace.
“For those who are so much concerned with sovereignty; we want to say the Zimbabwean media scenario is a grand example of the loss of it. Thanks to the work of the restrictive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA).
“For any self-respecting nation, it must be a big shame that when independent Zimbabweans think of news, they keep the bulletin times of Studio 7, an American radio station broadcasting thousands of miles away from home, they cuddle small radios to listen to the Voice of the People, another radio station that is based outside the continent, they tune in to their cell-phones for tit-bits of news from SW Radio based in the United Kingdom.
“It must also be a shame that Zimbabweans must hear or watch events that have happened in their backyards from BBC, Botswana Television, E Television, SABC and many others,” Takaona said.
Muchehetere has already claimed the scalps of “errant” ZBC TV, following the dismissal of eight members, including Business reporter Brian Paradza, a move roundly criticized by media representative bodies.
“ZUJ condemns the suspension of journalists from ZBC by the new management,” said Matthew Takaona.
Takura Zhangazha, the national director of MISA-Zimbabwe, was quoted in the media said,
“It is a chilling message to those remaining that if they fail to toe the line they will be hounded out of the institution. It is really a worrying trend, especially in the context of the presidential run-off.”
This move is believed to be a ploy to ensure that all Zimbabweans watch ZBC TV, where ZANU PF is confident that the combative Happison Muchechetere, who has been put at the helm, will broadcast programmes that forward its cause, unlike the era under the recently dismissed Henry Muradzikwa.
Muchechetere is a trusted ZANU PF lieutenant who succeeded former ZBC boss Henry Muradzikwa who was fired last month for allegedly failing to use the state broadcaster to successfully campaign for President Robert Mugabe, who lost to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the March 29 presidential election.
But it is the blitz on satellite dishes that has raised the ire of the populace and civic groups as evidence that the party will go to great lengths, despite how crooked, to win the June 27 election.
Satellite dishes, such as DSTV, Wiztech and Fortec Star, among others, mushroomed in the country as the fairly affluent citizens sought to evade the ZANU PF propaganda clout, championed by ZBC TV.
Nonetheless, like with the print media, where online and foreign newspapers have flourished, satellite dishes were bought such that citizens could have the other side of the story.
Foreign news stations, among them BBC and CNN, were banned from ZBC TV in 2000, during Professor Jonathan Moyo’s tenure as Information Minister, a development which was extolled as a noble move to consolidate communicative sovereignty.
Ironically, that communicative sovereignty has been ceded as propounded by ZUJ President Matthew Takaona in his May 3 2008 Press Freedom Day speech in which he heralded Zimbabwean media’s spectacular fall from grace.
“For those who are so much concerned with sovereignty; we want to say the Zimbabwean media scenario is a grand example of the loss of it. Thanks to the work of the restrictive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA).
“For any self-respecting nation, it must be a big shame that when independent Zimbabweans think of news, they keep the bulletin times of Studio 7, an American radio station broadcasting thousands of miles away from home, they cuddle small radios to listen to the Voice of the People, another radio station that is based outside the continent, they tune in to their cell-phones for tit-bits of news from SW Radio based in the United Kingdom.
“It must also be a shame that Zimbabweans must hear or watch events that have happened in their backyards from BBC, Botswana Television, E Television, SABC and many others,” Takaona said.
Muchehetere has already claimed the scalps of “errant” ZBC TV, following the dismissal of eight members, including Business reporter Brian Paradza, a move roundly criticized by media representative bodies.
“ZUJ condemns the suspension of journalists from ZBC by the new management,” said Matthew Takaona.
Takura Zhangazha, the national director of MISA-Zimbabwe, was quoted in the media said,
“It is a chilling message to those remaining that if they fail to toe the line they will be hounded out of the institution. It is really a worrying trend, especially in the context of the presidential run-off.”
1 comment:
gud piece abt the state invasion of privacy, hw can someone in his noble sense try to pull down a person's choice. its like saying u can't watch this watch this what really happened to our liberation war ideals lets jus do away with these ignorant muggots once and for all.
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