Opinion / Columnist
Of media polarization and The Zanu PF 2018 manifesto
14 May 2018 at 05:53hrs | Views
I have regretted buying copies of some privately owned Zimbabwean papers countless times, but I will keep on buying. The logic behind is simple - journalists from private press tell the truth on occasions when they are not carrying out opposition political activism - one just has to know when that is.
A case in point being the recently launched Zanu PF Manifesto which attracted headlines such as, Zanu PF manifesto populist, a sham, Zanu PF manifesto a pie in the sky, Zanu PF manifesto clearest nothing will change and On the flawed and unimaginative Zanu PF manifesto, just to mention a few and all from the same newspaper.
When I went through the above mentioned stories I was expecting to be schooled on how unattainable the Zanu PF vision for the country was, only to be told of minor glaring mistakes on the biography of President Mnangagwa, that Zanu PF promises are incredulous(not sure on whose part), that President Mnangagwa make promises as though he was not in government since independence (as though we once had two presidents at one go), and that the growth rate necessary for Zimbabwe to be (for argument's sake) an upper middle income country by 2030 has never been sustained in the history of the world (though here the activists were lenient enough to point out that Zimbabwe's all-weather friend, China, did it).
The point I am trying to drive home is that opposition political party activists in private media houses judged the Zanu PF manifesto not on content or the new leadership' zeal to see Zimbabwe prosper, but on a preconceived western driven skewed mentality that change cannot come under the Revolutionary party and that free and fair elections mean a win for the opposition.
I stand corrected, but I am confident that most Zimbabweans agree with me when I say the bread and butter issue at the moment is the economy – and not glaring mistakes on the biography of President Mnangagwa or that the candidate definitely capable of delivering a brighter future for the country was in Government when western imposed sanctions fast tracked the death of our ailing economy.
If stories mentioned earlier above had been written by objective journalists, the public was going to be told of how the current administration has already demonstrated in the past few months that it will walk the talk in turning around the economy. This can be noted when the current government instituted measures to make the country attractive to investors, attracted $11 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges and ensured that civil servants are paid within the month worked.
Thus, building on the above mentioned inroads, Zanu PF, under the new dispensation, is pledging to transform Zimbabwe into a middle income economy by 2030. The revolutionary party intends to achieve this by focusing on attracting investment to build industry, create jobs and eradicate poverty - and that is not a pie in the sky - it is doable!
The downside of all this is that, while the activists-cum journalists wrote for their supper, the generality of Zimbabweans were misinformed on a good policy document capable of changing their lives for the better.
A case in point being the recently launched Zanu PF Manifesto which attracted headlines such as, Zanu PF manifesto populist, a sham, Zanu PF manifesto a pie in the sky, Zanu PF manifesto clearest nothing will change and On the flawed and unimaginative Zanu PF manifesto, just to mention a few and all from the same newspaper.
When I went through the above mentioned stories I was expecting to be schooled on how unattainable the Zanu PF vision for the country was, only to be told of minor glaring mistakes on the biography of President Mnangagwa, that Zanu PF promises are incredulous(not sure on whose part), that President Mnangagwa make promises as though he was not in government since independence (as though we once had two presidents at one go), and that the growth rate necessary for Zimbabwe to be (for argument's sake) an upper middle income country by 2030 has never been sustained in the history of the world (though here the activists were lenient enough to point out that Zimbabwe's all-weather friend, China, did it).
I stand corrected, but I am confident that most Zimbabweans agree with me when I say the bread and butter issue at the moment is the economy – and not glaring mistakes on the biography of President Mnangagwa or that the candidate definitely capable of delivering a brighter future for the country was in Government when western imposed sanctions fast tracked the death of our ailing economy.
If stories mentioned earlier above had been written by objective journalists, the public was going to be told of how the current administration has already demonstrated in the past few months that it will walk the talk in turning around the economy. This can be noted when the current government instituted measures to make the country attractive to investors, attracted $11 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges and ensured that civil servants are paid within the month worked.
Thus, building on the above mentioned inroads, Zanu PF, under the new dispensation, is pledging to transform Zimbabwe into a middle income economy by 2030. The revolutionary party intends to achieve this by focusing on attracting investment to build industry, create jobs and eradicate poverty - and that is not a pie in the sky - it is doable!
The downside of all this is that, while the activists-cum journalists wrote for their supper, the generality of Zimbabweans were misinformed on a good policy document capable of changing their lives for the better.
Source - Mapozho Saruchera
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
