Zimbabwe's electronic media: Old wine in new bottles

Charles Mangongera

Tafataona Mahoso is generally a boring character. When he is not rehashing 1960s Rhodesian history in his long and nauseating weekly newspaper columns published by Zimpapers, he joins other grey-haired cretins in a ZTV political talk show whose producers would be confined to a mental institution were this a normal country.  On that political talk show Mahoso and company spew so much hate that they make Colonel Gadhafi’ rants about ‘rats and cockroaches’ sound like motivational speeches by a business executive.

These days in between writing those gory newspaper columns and insulting the collective intelligence of Zimbabweans on national TV, Mahoso also has another cushy job. As chair of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) he gets to decide who gets a radio license to broadcast in a media environment that is dominated by Zimpapers and ZBC, owners of the newspapers he writes for and the TV station that hosts his talk show respectively.

That Mahoso is a ZANU (PF) card-carrying member is indisputable. One only has to brave through one of his opinion pieces to detect this. How the MDC negotiators agreed to him chairing the BAZ is mind-boggling. In the period before the GNU Mahoso had another enviable job. As Chairman of the now defunct Media and Information Commission (MIC), where he was appointed by Jonathan Moyo, he got paid to decide which newspaper and journalist got a license to practice the trade. On his watch more than half a dozen daily and weekly newspapers were shut down. Hundreds of journalists were thrown on to the streets jobless. My friends in the media fraternity quickly christened him the ‘media hangman’.

So when I read that the same Mahoso would announce the names of companies that had been granted new licenses to run radio stations I was gripped with trepidation. I rang a media consultant friend to give me the low down on the applicants that had made it onto Mahoso’s shortlist. There were four of them. I started doing my own scoring, mumbling some thoughts to myself.

“So there is AB Communications owned by journalist and businessman Supa Mandiwanzira. His biggest asset is that he is a ZANU (PF) sympathizer. Or is he a card-carrying member? OK, so he hosts a TV programme that is inaptly titled ‘Talking Business with Supa’. What business? That show is a platform for showcasing ZANU (PF) cronies and politicos on national television. This is the same Supa who was recently kicked out of the Affirmative Action Group (AAG), a dubious black economic empowerment outfit founded by that pompous political reject Philip Chiyangwa. Could it be that he fell out of favour with the authorities? Well, he fell out of favour with Chiyangwa so that is inconsequential. But hang on a second. For a long time Supa was a ZTV main news anchor, where day in and day out he ferociously parroted ZANU (PF) propaganda. This might actually work in his favour Well, we will see’.

Next up; Zimpapers. ‘OK I get it. This is the company that publishes The Herald and a string of other ZANU (PF) mouthpieces. Smart move by ZANU (PF)! Now they want another one of their own. But I thought they had all the ZBC radio stations in their bag? Yes they do but the idea of getting the license is not because they do not have enough electronic media space. It is actually to ensure that nobody else gets it.  Talk of primitive accumulation. Besides there is an awful lot of money to be made. Old Mutual, that avaricious property behemoth is a significant shareholder at Zimpapers. By the way Old Mutual has just given Kasukuwere $11 million for youth projects under that dubious empowerment scheme. Another election war chest for ZANU (PF)! And is it not listed on the London Stock Exchange? But we are told there is no love lost between London and Harare. Politics dzakaoma. Back to the licensing, I think Zimpapers is shoe-in, otherwise how would Mahoso justify denying them a license to Shamu?’

The other applicant was Vox Media currently broadcasting from outside the country as Radio Voice of the People.  ‘This actually seems like a good application. Maybe I am being biased because I have had the privilege of being a guest on some of their radio programmes.  Not really. I think it would be a happy day for media freedom if they get a license. John Masuku is a decent guy. And he has a good team of journalists. Obviously Mahoso will look at this as one of the pirate radio stations. But he needs to license at least one of the truly independent ones to give this thing some modicum of fairness, right? Are we not in an inclusive government? Will he take that into account? He is just a hired gun, is he not? What if he is taking instructions from Shamu? This is a tricky one’.

Finally there was Hot Media. ‘Who are these guys? Is this the Oliver Mutukudzi outfit?’ I quickly rang my media consultant friend who told me that indeed this was the Oliver Mutukudzi outfit, adding that the name of the radio station is actually Kiss FM. ‘Kiss FM? What kind of grown man names a radio station Kiss FM?’ Anyway I quickly checked who else was part of Hot Media. I was told Musi Khumalo. ‘Did she not work for ZBC for a very long time? That might actually work in their favour. But will Mahoso trust them? Didn’t Tuku pen that controversial Bvuma/Tolerance song, imploring an old man to take a rest? And if they get it, can they be trusted to give a voice to the poor and downtrodden? And to dissenting voices? I like Mudhara Tuku as a singer but I just cannot fathom him as a director of a radio station. Well, this may just work. You never know’.

Later on that day I went to my local watering hall and bet my media consultant friend six beers that Mahoso would give one license to ZANU (PF), meaning either Zimpapers or Supa Mandiwanzira and at least one to the other two. Being the pessimist that he is, he insisted that all of them would go to ZANU PF, cautioning me ‘ZANU umombonyatsoiziva zvakanaka iwe?

Two days later Mahoso dropped a bombshell. Both available licenses were given to ZANU (PF). One went to Mandiwanzira’s AB Communications. The other one went to Zimpapers. Media rights organisations are screaming ‘we was robbed’! So what is Mahoso’s alibi?  ‘Well, we had a scoring system and the two companies scored the highest points’. Really? What was the grading system? Is it proximity to ZANU (PF)? That explanation is as unconvincing as Luke Tamborinyoka’s nuptial denials Mr. Mahoso. You owe me my six beers! And then we have Supa Mandiwanzira trying to play smart. ‘Well, I am not ZANU (PF)’. Yeah right! Tell that to my eight-year-old Tino and see if she will believe you Mr. Mandiwanzira.

But honestly I think this is a fraud of scandalous proportions. Mahoso and his team must all resign in shame. The country needs to move beyond this barbaric monopolisation of the electronic media by ZANU (PF). But again do they not say the more things change the more they stay the same?