Media lies, "broken limbs" and greed in Zimbabwe

SOMETIMES you hear a stray sentence on the news that makes you realise you have been lied to. Deliberately lied to; systematically lied to; lied to for a purpose. If you listened closely over the past few days, you could have heard one such sentence passing in the night-time of news. — Johann Hari, The Independent, 7 July 2008

Nowhere is this type of spin more prevalent than in the British print media when reporting Zimbabwe.

In the past few weeks alone the Guardian has treated us to an article calling for the immediate invasion of Zimbabwe with the byline attributed to one Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of one of Zimbabwe’s many opposition parties. When the article was brought to the fellow’s attention, he hastily but incoherently denied writing it and as a result the Guardian took it off its website without any apology to the people of Zimbabwe or the Zimbabwean government. Many Zimbabweans myself included reacted angrily to one of the Guardian’s editors, Siobhan Butterworth’s attempts to defend their position on their CIF.

Siobhan in her eternal journalistic wisdom saw no evil in an Australian James Rose writing cobblers and passing them off as genuine Tsvangirai pieces stating that “In this case, when Rose got the go-ahead for Tsvangirai’s Guardian piece from his contact - an MDC spokesperson who works closely with Tsvangirai - he [Rose] drafted the article without input from anyone else based on what he already knew. This was unusual but he assumed that because the MDC was in crisis it couldn't do more. He read the finished piece over the phone to his contact, who approved it for publication. Readers may be surprised that some comment pieces are put together in this way”..

However, says Siobhan “this type of ghostwriting can be justified. The critical issue is whether the person whose byline appears on the piece has approved it”. So did the Tsvangirai fellow approve it? Over the phone? Should such a grave matter like calling for the invasion of a country potentially followed by devastation of the magnitude currently underway in Iraq and Afghanistan be discussed over a phone conversation?

And should we infer that once the MDC hits a crisis it always turns to individuals like Rose. Are such people ready to rule Zimbabwe? Yes says Siobhan contending that “The MDC was also in the middle of a political crisis. Tsvangirai had taken refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare after pulling out of the presidential election amid concerns that MDC supporters would suffer intimidation and violence. The comment desk turned to James Rose, an Australian with a background in journalism and a trusted source for pieces from Tsvangirai as he'd supplied a comment piece from the MDC leader in April”.

She says further, “Rose told me he also does pro-bono work for the National Coalition Government for the Union of Burma. "I believe good causes need good copy," he said. He has worked with the MDC on four or five pieces, published under Tsvangirai's name, which have appeared in the Guardian, the Washington Post and the Melbourne Age among other newspapers - one that appeared in the Age, last month, also called for a UN peacekeeping operation in Zimbabwe”

 Five pieces on Zimbabwe purportedly written by its opposition leader when they are actually written in the West. Is this not meddling in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs? Is this not proper “mischief” making in Africa?

Dear readers, are the MDC and the former underground nickel mine worker Morgan Tsvangirai ready to rule Zimbabwe? How many Roses will be giving them direction in times of national crises?

The offending piece was taken off the Guardian site without the ceremony or fanfare that attended its publication. But the intended damage had already been done to Zimbabwe’s image albeit with Morgan’s and MDC’s acquiescence.

The Times newspaper, couldn’t afford being left out of this story. It published a fictitious piece complete with a picture the baby Blessing Dube whose legs the ever resourceful Gauteng based correspondent Christiana Lamb said were clubbed to pulp by “Mugabe’s Thugs”.

I remember the triumphant look of an African acquaintance of mine who is a dedicated Mugabe basher, and also a strict convert to R2P.  He brought the baby Blessing’s now infamous picture and The Times piece to my attention demanding “Now defend this! Mugabe is killing maiming and raping children yet you dare always defend the dictator.  Here is the evidence. He kills his own people for fcuk’s sake man!”

I remember replying that I doubted the story was genuine as maiming children was not a Zimbabwean thing to do. I  further earned the man’s ire when I went as far as suggesting that given that the picture genuinely looked like that of a child in extreme distress, it could have been taken anywhere in the world.

How right my hunch. The whole thing has been proved beyond doubt to be untrue. Pity the mother who was tempted by money to use her baby’s illness to such selfish ends in a media war declared on Zimbabwe,.

This puerile form of journalism which Basildon Peta practiced with relish in Zimbabwe at one time is rotten to the core.

The MDC is a foreign entity fronted by black Zimbabwean faces. In pursuit of riches promised by their handlers the MDC in collusion with sections of the Western press are busy soiling our national image to the extent that people like little Blessing’s mother no longer think twice about using a child’s plight to earn a few pennies. This is a new deplorable development. Our people are being turned slowly into animals. People are losing their uBuntu at the Alter of money.

Africa, Zimbabwe where is your pride?

On a personal note: NakaBlessing, if ever you read this I want to say every genuine and patriotic Zimbabwean wishes the best for the tiny tot. Times are hard especially when you have an ailing child. I feel your pain and I am in no doubt millions more do. But to allow your child to be used like this is unforgivable. It is a dastardly thing to do. It is unZimbabwean. You should not capitalize on your child’s misfortune like this especially when it leads to the blighting of the national image. There is a word for it. It is called greed and in this case it boarders on treason.