The Daily News threw a ton of bricks at me last Saturday for questioning the previous day their treatment of the row between them and United Families International Church (UFIC) founder Emmanuel Makandiwa.
Report by Conway Tutani
The dispute arose from a poster printed by the paper last December with the words Anglican saga sucks in Makandiwa instead of Anglican saga sucks in banks. Makandiwa rightly demanded a prominently-placed, clear and complete retraction.
They first accused me of being jealous of them. Well, I can’t dignify that with a reply. They then accused me of misrepresenting the background to the closure of the paper by the government in 2003. Here is my take: Abel Mutsakani, the then president of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Zimbabwe, and Daily News editor-in-chief Geoffrey Nyarota, in his capacity as chairman of the Zimbabwe National Editors’ Forum, said it was more prudent for journalists to register with the Media and Information Commission as required under the so-called Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa). On October 21, 2002 after long debate, journalists working for Zimbabwe’s privately-owned newspapers took a hard but sober decision to apply for accreditation in terms of Aippa. “The editors of private newspapers obviously do not support the legislation,” Nyarota said. “They have so far been the major targets of Aippa, after all. But we realise that if we do not register, then we are giving Jonathan Moyo (the architect of Aippa, who was then Information minister) victory on a plate. The journalists are more strategically positioned if they fight Aippa from their offices and newsrooms.”
They made a decision to register under protest and then demonstrate against “an unjust law”.
Management at the Daily News disregarded that position, playing right into Moyo’s hands — whatever came afterwards, was a result of this awfully bad decision.
That is why today opposition parties still notify the police ahead of their meetings in compliance with the equally obnoxious Public Order and Security Act.
So, my saying that the newspaper should have registered under Aippa does not mean that I support that law, as implied in that newspaper last Saturday.
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Going back to the Makandiwa issue, what he got was a “retraction” headlined Makandiwa withdraws. This escalated the row as Makandiwa then approached the Zimbabwe Media Commission, the statutory media regulatory authority. The paper then had a Page 1 lead story on April 12, 2013 headlined Makandiwa wants Daily News closed.
In that very issue on Page 2, the paper published an apology to its readers headlined Matter of Fact for having the previous day a Page 1 headline which read Zanu PF BIWIGS lock horns, instead of Zanu PF BIGWIGS lock horns (my emphasis). If they had similarly the headline Matter of Fact regarding the wrong poster in December instead of Makandiwa withdraws and done so promptly, not three days later, would not the matter have been settled long ago without this ugly fallout? Yes, they put a correction the very next day because they know they have a reputation to protect like everyone else, Makandiwa included.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
As it would have it, in the very same issue last Saturday, the paper had on Page 11 an article titled Getting it right on Kereke, which on closer reading was actually a retraction for, as they said, “certain assertions and factual errors” in three main stories on Harare businessman Kereke headlined Kereke’s vote-buying under fire, Kereke divides war vets, and Businessman wriggles in debt. When it’s them who have been found to be in the wrong, they treat the matter with levity, sort of brush it off. That is not telling it like it is. An apology is an apology. It must be appropriately worded and immediately recognisable as such; not with headlines like Getting it right on Kereke. Whenever such poor practices occur or recur, it shall always be pointed out.
It’s like some political party we all know that benefits from violence, but tries to ensure that they are not blamed for it when the evidence is there for all to see. It’s all about fair and equal treatment, not jealousy.
I hold no brief for Makandiwa, but churches don’t just sprout like invasive weeds, like the water hyacinth clogging and choking Lake Chivero. They reflect the times.
They have had important political effects. By giving people hope of a better life in the world to come, they encourage them to put up with their hardships and reject violence or revolution as a way out.
In that way, new churches have largely been a stabilising and progressive factor in today’s Zimbabwe enabling people to cope the HIV/Aids pandemic, economic meltdown and political turmoil in the face of near-total collapse of social safety nets and repression. So, they must not be regarded with suspicion and hostility – especially by those expected to inform and educate.
That is the other side to it. [email protected]
