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105 Worlds apart ... After winning a crucial election in March 2005 the Government of Zimbabwe embarked on a controversial cleaning-up exercise to spruce up its towns and cities. Code-named ‘Operation Murambatsvina’1, or ‘Tsunami’, the exercise excited the emotions of both the local and international media. This chapter compares and analyses the coverage of the clean-up operation by two Zimbabwean newspapers , one state-owned and the other privately owned. This chapter argues that representation of Operation Murambatsvina mirrored the polarised political environment prevailing at the time. The Sunday Mail ’s and The Standard’s coverage of Operation Murambatsvina during a six-week period beginning 22 May up to the 13 November 2005 is covered using qualitative methods, mainly content analysis and discourse analysis. The aim of this chapter is to ascertain the ideological motivations that inform representations of Murambatsvina in these two newspapers, and explore the implications of these representations to issues of media democracy in the country. Introduction and background The Government of Zimbabwe’s clean-up campaign code named Operation Murambatsvina/Operation Restore Order launched in May 2005 immediately became a major talking point among the Zimbabwean body politic, local and international media. The campaign was supposed be a joint initiative between the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the City of Harare municipal police. The first media report about it appeared in the state-owned daily The Herald of 19 May 2005. The report suggests that the clean-up campaign was meant to rid all cities and towns of ‘criminals, illegal dealers, touts, street people and unlicensed flea market operators’. A police spokesperson was reported to have said, ‘Naturally, if Worlds apart Representations of Operation Murambatsvina in Two Zimbabwean Weeklies Tendai Chari 8 1 Murambatsvina is a Shona word which means ‘drive out filth’. 106 TENDAI CHARI people are left to do things as they wish, chaos will be the order of the day. The city of Harare, once on record as the ‘Sunshine City’, is now virtually an eyesore’. This statement issued by the police is probably the closest one can get to the official policy encapsulating the stated objectives of Operation Murambatsvina. The Sunday Mail The Sunday Mail is a broadsheet published by Zimbabwe Newspapers Pvt Ltd (1980), a government-owned publishing company with a wide range of publications . It has been in circulation since 1935 and has maintained its position as the most widely read newspaper since independence. At the time of writing, the newspaper’s circulation stood at 90,000 (Chagutah 2007, 25). Readership of the newspaper stood at about 100,000 in 2005, which is the year in which the clean-up operation was carried out. In order to live up to its motto as ‘the most widely read newspaper’, the paper has different sections catering for different tastes. The main sections of the paper are general news, business news, Sunday Metro and entertainment. Most of the news articles on Operation Murambatsvina appeared in the general news and Sunday Metro section. By virtue of being the ‘leading voice for the sunshine city’ the Sunday Metro section focuses mainly on metropolitan Harare, which is where the manifestations of the cleanup operation were more apparent. The Sunday Mail is guided by the parent company’s editorial policy which, among other things, states that newspapers:· must be credible, giving readers information that is as accurate as possible· must be as complete as possible, publishing reports of the major local national, regional, and international events, whether news, sport or cultural· must be fit reading for all, requiring sensitivity in the handling of sensational and lurid stories· will be supportive of Zimbabwe and its goals, generally supportive of the elected government of the day. (Chagutah 2007, 25) As is stated in its editorial policy The Sunday Mail does not at all disguise its pro-government stance. Like all publications that fall under the ambit of the government, its duty is to vigorously defend government policies, regardless of how unpalatable those policies may appear to others. It is against this background that the newspaper’s coverage of the clean-up operation should be seen. The pro-government stance was quite evident during the clean-up operation in 2005 when it functioned as the government’s mouthpieces. The Standard The Standard is published by the Zimind Publishing Group which is owned by Zimbabwean business mogul Trevor Ncube. Formerly The Sunday Standard, the newspaper was launched on 13 April 1997. The paper is a tabloid with several sections that...

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