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27 October - 4 November 2015

Media Monitoring Report Zimbabwe (27 October - 4 November 2015)
Posted on November 6, 2015

Media Monitoring Report for Zimbabwe (9-16 Sept, 2015)

 

Contents

Compiled by – MIGS Desk Officer for Zimbabwe – Pierre Bussières

  1. G-40 splits Mugabe’s succession
  2. Clashes continue between ZANU-PF and MDC
  3. Series of attacks against the media
  4. Human rights lawyers called against expropriation
1. G-40 splits ruling party over Mugabe’s succession
State-Owned Media

The G40 as the mutation of ‘Operation Shumba’?, October 29, The Patriot

  • ‘Operation Shumba’ is a new feature of ‘shadowy media platforms and faceless political formations’ sponsored by the West meant to destabilize the country
  • The G40 group calls into question the role played by the army veteran in the liberation war, the only group which has left a permanent and solid basis for today’s Zimbabwe
  • ‘G40 represent sponsored economics which shuns the real economy of the majority and avoids thorough diagnostic studies of that economy, preferring instead to focus on what the IMF, the World Bank and other Cold War economic institutions teach.’
Independent Media

Zanu PF’s enemy from within, November 1, 2015, Silence Charumbira,  The Standard

  • The ruling party is denying recent reports that its supporters have recently split up between two factions, Generation 40 (G40) backing Grace Mugabe and another one in support of Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa
  • A recent surge in social media activity commenting on the split is partially attributable, according to activists, to the constraints put on traditional media outlets

War vets take on G40, October 29, Bulawayo

  • ‘Members of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) are planning a manifestation against a faction of the ruling party they accuse of playing down their role in the liberation war’
  • ‘The ex-combatants are aggrieved by relentless attacks by young Turks linked to G40’
  • ‘The G40 seems to be making headway to renew Zanu-PF following the ouster of Joice Mujuru and another 150 Zanu-PF members in the past 14 months on allegation of plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe’

 

2. Clashes continue between ZANU-PF and MDC
State-Owned media

Zanu-PF, MDC-T supporters clash, November 2, 2015, The Herald

  • Zanu-PF and MDC-T supporters reportedly clashed yesterday in Hopley, Harare South District, leaving scores of people injured
  • Police had to move to calm down the disturbances that occurred in Zone 5
  • At the time that the Herald arrived, police had already established firm presence
  • Both parties accused each other of starting the fight, while the police reported ‘’MDC-T supporters attacked Zanu-FF members who were outnumbered’ A Zanu official  said MDC-T had provoked the situation
Independent Media

13 Injured in Political Violence, November 2, Obey Manayiti, Newsdays

  • Rival Camps fought each other during nearly six hours in Harare South. NewsDays reported the neighborhood had been turned into a ‘’warzone’’
  • Zanu PF supporters allegedly disrupted the an important MDC-T rally in a ZAPU-PF dominated suburb
  • MDC-T Harare provincial youth secretary Denford Ngadziore  told Newsdays that ‘’Zanu PF youths were indiscriminately assaulting people even those that had nothing to do with our meeting’’ while the police was turning a blind eye
3. Series of attacks against the media
State-Owned Media
  • There is a method to fine Madness, Joram Nyathi Spectrum, October 30, 2015, The Herald
  • The private media has made it their vocation to drag the ruling party into the mud, focusing on matters that should be peripheral
  • Private media are sidelining important issues to focus on petty politics
  • Some privately-funded media outlets may be seeking martyhrdom instead of tackling important issues. Although ZANU-PF could be tempted to use power to coerce these news sources, it is stuck between a rock and a hard place : if it recoils from carrying its threats, it encourages media aberrations and if does, it may create martyrs out of ‘gross ethical deviance’
Independent Media

Daggers drawn against newspapers, November 1, Phyllis Mbanje, The Standard

  • The government has led another wave of attacks on independent media in a campaign to silence the discussion about Mugabe’s succession
  • State-owned media has increasingly used the term ‘lunatic fringe’ and ‘opposition media’ to refer to most independent media in Zimbabwe
  • Christopher Mushohwe has recently summoned local media organizations and complained about their coverage of the first lady
  • The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) told The Standard it was worried about the safety of journalists in the face of the attacks.
  • Amnesty: Zim government 'intimidating' media, November 4,  News24
  • Amnesty International condemned the arrest of three journalists in Zimbabwe in what it calls a shocking attempt to ‘intimidate the press’
  • Police spokesperson Charity Charamba  said on Tuesday that Sunday Mail editor Mabasa Sasa, investigations editor Brian Chitemba and reporter Tinashe Farawo were will be charged with slander
4. Human rights lawyers called against expropriation
Independent Media

Zimbabwe: Zanu-PF Councilor Threatens to Demolish Epworth Homes, Residents Approach Lawyers, November 3, 2015, New Zimbabwe

  • Epworth Residents Development Association (ERDA) said the local board had notified thousands of residents in the two cities that they had to evacuate the area
  • Residents of Sunway city and Pentagon reached out to the Zimbabwe lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR to stop local bands involving ZANU members to destroy their homes
  • According to Zimbabwean law, the government must first obtain the permission by the court and provide alternative accommodations

 

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