I was watching Hardtalk the other night. Stephen Sackur was interviewing William Ruto one of the presidential candidates in Kenya’s next election. Ruto and one other candidate are both currently facing charges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague regarding alleged fanning of election violence in 2008. The next Kenyan election is March 2013 and many people are anticipating that it will be very violent. Which got me thinking that Mugabe’s decision to call an election in March in Zimbabwe is fairly cunning. Comparisons are odious but the violence that rocked Kenya’s last election made Zimbabwe’s look pretty peaceful. All eyes will be on the Kenyan election which will mean Zanu PF will have a lot of room to exercise their creative interpretation of the polling process.

On our run on Sunday, my friend and I passed a number of women in bright yellow t-shirts, with a photograph of Mugabe in the centre. The effect on us was telling, and discussing it afterwards, we wondered if it was part of a strategy for the elections, most recently being punted for March next year. Because the t-shirts, actually, were not “political,” in the formal sense, at all. If you looked closer, you saw the words “Zimbabwe Women’s Football” and “Chief Patron” wrapping around the photograph. But how many people would look closer? If my friend and I were reluctant to stare, for fear of sending some wrong signal and getting ourselves in trouble, how many others would give t-shirts like that a closer look? And, even if you do get a closer look, what better way to get out the message “we’re in charge” than by circulating a variety of innocuous, non-political t-shirts, with Mugabe’s face on them.

Anyway, perhaps we gave Zanu PF far too much credit, but they are historically good at the use of propaganda and information, and we decided that it could well be part of their election strategy. The strategy, we figured, would be largely around the need for Zanu PF to win a “free and fair” – read internationally recognised and accepted – election. If they can’t win an election under those circumstances, they’d probably be better off trying to cling to the Government of National Unity. So we thought maybe we were in for a Zanu PF that was less formally threatening – and instead relied on people’s residual fear, and any inroads they may have made through the GNU, if surveys like Freedom House’s are to be believed.

But then we read that Zimbabwe’s Energy Minister, Elton Mangoma of the MDC, had been arrested, detained at Harare Central, taken to Bindura, turned back, and returned to Harare Central, and eventually released with a warned and cautioned statement, all for supposedly saying “Mugabe Chifa, Mugabe Chibva” (Loosely translated Mugabe die, Mugabe go) at a rally in Bindura earlier this year. Mangoma was arrested twice in March last year for charges of abuse of office.  In one case he was acquitted, and in the other charges were dropped before the case went to trial.

Today’s arrest of Mangoma is the sort of “bad old days” behaviour of Zanu PF that makes people roll their eyes at any talk of a “free and fair” election. If they are hoping to lull people into voting for them – and having the election legitimated internationally – they’d better tone down the hamfisted intimidation tactics choppers.

Exhibition runs from 13 October – 19 October 2012.

The Cycle, a photographic exhibition about water and sanitation in the city of Harare, by Davina Jogi.

Davina Jogi is a freelance photojournalist from Harare. She focuses on telling daily life stories about Zimbabwe that are often not covered by international media, and has worked with a variety of local and international newspapers, magazines and NGOs.

She was awarded the 2012 Media and Advocacy Grant from Market Photo Workshop for which she photographed a story about Harare’s water and sanitation challenges, entitled The Cycle.

The Media and Advocacy Photography Mentorship
The Media and Advocacy Photography Mentorship is solely aimed at the development of photographers with an interest in documenting societal issues that might often go unacknowledged in the mainstream media.  Davina Jogi is the first recipient of the award and her mentor for the project was Jonathan Torgovnik.

About the Market Photo Workshop
The Market Photo Workshop is a Johannesburg-based school of photography, gallery and resource centre for practicing photographers. Since its establishment in 1989, the school has played an integral role in the training and growth of photographers from South Africa and further afield.

For more information
Davina Jogi: www.davinajogi.com

When some people say Zimbabwe is a lawless country, buffoons imagine it to mean warlords roaming the streets a la Siad Barre’s Mogadishu. Because white farmers are no longer being killed on farms, oh well, you see we are a law abiding lot. My ass! You only need the very bad example of belligerent and fictitious veterans of the liberation struggle and how they have been left by the law enforcement agents to run riot and threaten the life and limb of poor Tendai Biti.

Surely if anyone besieged any brazenly incompetent Zanu PF minister’s office we all know they would get the baton stick and tear smoke treatment and as many a dare devil activist knows – including lawyers by the way – blissless nights await them at Matapi and Khami. Hey, these scoundrels are threatening the life of an elected government official. It could still be disgruntled small-scale farmers bum-rushing the offices of the unelected Joseph Made rightfully demanding that the GMB pays them seasons-old debts! He would still get protection. You see, thence the law ain’t choosy, only the colours. Talk about a blind ass!

But then I feel silly saying it because everyone knows this. That’s where the lawlessness comes in. If there was respect for the rule of law, the hooliganism of these broke-ass louts would have been dealt with already. The rather eerie thing for me is that it usually takes one moron who has given up on looking for a job but firmly believes Biti is “refusing with our money” to throw a fist, a Molotov, a brick at the FinMin before everybody wakes up to the actions of these lawless and dangerous elements. Only then will Zanu PF start disowning them.

The irony is that each time some whacky outfits come out claiming mayhem in the name of Zanu PF, Secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa, spokesperson Rugare Gumbo are ever as quick as an MDC supporter escaping Zanu PF midnight marauders that these Chipangano clones are not from the Zanu PF family of law-abiding Zimbabweans. But not when the vets physically accost a government minister! (Not vets as in veterinarians, someone said the behaviour of the veterans borders on the illiterate, so you have to juxtapose that with an illiterate veterinarian before you confuse the two “vets”! ) So what happened to the special protection unit for ministers if there ever was such a thing?

And I can already imagine them frothing in the mouth reading this – and their response to this blog? “We will beat the crap out of this guy.” I am laughing already.

So, Minister Kasukuwere just woke up and realised that there are 144 colonial-era laws that “stifle the easy empowerment of our people.” Easy empowerment of course being the catch. He says he will be taking up the matter with Cabinet to have these laws amended or repealed. How noble. Of course this is the same chap whose same political party has used the very same colonial-era laws to suppress political activism and dance and stomp on civil liberties. But obviously the irony is lost as these crusaders have made political careers out of brazen double standards. This is yet another reason why sober-minded and progressive Zimbabweans must dispense with the Kasukuweres in the coming polls. Why? Because the same colonial era laws he is choosing not to complain about  are being used to deny you the right to support the political party of your choice. Nothing worse than tolerating a hypocrite doubling as a cretin!

But then, Zanu PF has insulted people’s intelligence for so long the party thinks it can get away with anything.

The growing media polarization between “pro-MDC” and “pro-ZANU-PF” camps has reached a toxic level as it is now difficult to distinguish journalists from political activists. The prevailing political situation in Zimbabwe has exacerbated the rivalry and the media is being used for political ends.

The Annual Media Stakeholders’ Conference 2012 was held in Harare yesterday at a time when the country is at a deadlock over the new constitution and the increasing uncertainty of whether there is going to be any constitution at all. The conference, which was hosted by the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ), brought together media practitioners and members of civil society from across the nation to take stock of media reforms, which have taken place so far under the coalition government operating the Global Peace Agreement (GPA). Article 19 of the GPA refers to a free and diverse media environment but not much has been done to address this as many journalists and media practitioners have been arrested and charged under Access Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

According to a presentation by Andy Moyes of Media and Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) the government has established the Zimbabwe Media Commission and since the establishment of the Commission the number of registered media organizations has risen to 65. However it should be noted that the Commission is still a government-controlled body as it still operates under the provisions of Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). The Zimbabwe Media Commission has recently come under attack from some sections of the media who view its establishment as an attempt to stifle media plurality, expression and press freedom. The same Commission has been criticized for lack of transparency in the awarding of licenses, which has resulted in a number of private radio stations crying foul. In what can be viewed as a deliberate move to stall reforms before elections no community radio station has been granted a license to operate to date.

Multiplicity does not necessarily mean the licensing of two radio stations can evidence diversity in content. The two stations, which came into operation recently after being granted commercial broadcasting licenses. One of the two radio station Star FM comes from a state run media house and the other one Zi FM is operated by a former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation news anchor who has denied strong links to the former ruling party ZANU PF.

The continued use of hate language, fabrication of stories, biased reporting and publication of highly opinionated stories is another sign of the high level of unethical practices which some journalists and media houses practice. To some extent the increased invasion of privacy especially by state media related to the Prime Minister’s private life has left many wondering if there are still any ethics being practiced in the media profession. The standard of journalism in Zimbabwe has deteriorated to that extent that the content being produced is now regarded as being unreliable.