Abstract
Political scandals are rarely the focus of major academic research in Zimbabwe where tight control of the dominant state media by the ruling party ensures that scandals involving senior government officials are suppressed. Informed by Altheide and Snow’s media logic and Thompson’s concept of mediated political scandals, this article uses framing analysis to examine The Herald’s logic behind exposing the ZIMDEF scandal involving former Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Jonathan Moyo. We therefore view the scandal as a political power scandal within ZANU-PF as two main factions, the Lacoste faction led by then Vice-President and now President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the G40 faction fronted by the then Minister of Higher Education Jonathan Moyo, who fought a nail-biting contest over the succession of long-time ruler Mugabe as his reign entered the twilight. The article argues that the scandal evolved like a choreographed sting operation, in which the objective was not to expose public corruption, but to neutralise a formidable political foe as the race to succeed former president Robert Mugabe intensified.
In this new world of mediated visibility, the making visible of actions and events is not just the outcome of leakage in systems of communication and information flow that are increasingly difficult to control: it is also an explicit strategy of individuals who know very well that mediated visibility can be a weapon in the struggles they wage in their day-to-day lives. – Thompson (2005: 31).
Introduction
Political scandals are rarely the focus of major academic research in Zimbabwe, where tight control of the dominant state media by the ruling party ensures that scandals involving senior government officials are suppressed. Indeed, since independence, it is only in the Willowgate scandal in 1988 that a state newspaper relentlessly pursued transgressions by ruling party officials, to the extent of rocking the establishment. The scandal centred on senior members of the ruling party corruptly using their parliamentary privileges to buy cars cheaply from two motor assemblies in the country for resale at a premium in what was then a car starved market (Nyarota, 2006). 1 Following the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front’s (ZANU-PF) victory in the 2013 elections, however, stories on public sector corruption (involving senior government officials and managers at state companies) received unusually prominent coverage in state controlled media. 2 The Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (ZIMDEF) scandal, in which the then Minister of Higher Education Jonathan Moyo was accused of diverting funds meant to support students on industrial attachment was one of the biggest of these scandals. The influential minister was accused, together with his deputy Godfrey Gandawa, of converting $USD430,000.00 to personal use, including buying furniture and repaying loans.
Altheide and Snow’s (1979) media logic and Thompson’s (2005) concept of mediated political scandals provide useful conceptual frameworks to explore the ZIMDEF scandal and locate it within the broader political context in Zimbabwe. Corruption scandals become political scandals when the alleged perpetrator holds significant political office or influence, which translates into what Thompson has termed ‘power scandals’ (Thompson, 2005: 42). Therefore, the Moyo-ZIMDEF scandal became a political power scandal because it involved influential figures in the ruling party and had potential impact on the country’s politics.
Through analysis of The Herald’s coverage of the ZIMDEF scandal, we examine the interpretive frameworks and the logic behind the state media’s zeal in exposing this scandal. While it is central to the practice of journalism to expose powerful individuals and institutions, the ZIMDEF scandal evolved like a choreographed sting operation, in which the objective was not to expose public corruption, but to neutralise a formidable political foe as the race to succeed former president Robert Mugabe intensified. We therefore view the scandal as a political power scandal within ZANU-PF as two main factions, the Lacoste faction led by then Vice-President and now President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the G40 faction fronted by the then Minister of Higher Education Jonathan Moyo, fought a nail-biting contest over the succession of long-time ruler Mugabe as his reign entered the twilight.
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Political scandals have become more frequent, even in Zimbabwe because of the nature of mediated communication. Inevitably, they arouse intense public interest depending on the personalities involved. Allern and Pollack (2012: 13) describe political scandals: For a scandal to be characterised as political in this context means that it involves political institutions, political processes or decisions – or politicians personally in their capacity as publicly appointed or elected officials.
Typically, such scandals must involve violations of rules, procedures (Midtbø, 2007) or norms by said politicians in the exercise of power.
In most cases scandals originate from leaks through sources or whistle-blowers wishing to report transgressions (Allern and Pollack, 2012). However, details of the ZIMDEF scandal seemed to emanate from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (hereafter, ZACC) itself, the authority charged with investigating cases of corruption in the country. This suggested that powerful actors within the Zimbabwean state were using a state institution to weaken a political rival, and consequently his faction. In what Jenssen and Fladmoe (2012) say is typical in mediated political scandals, in the ZIMDEF scandal, The Herald itself as a newspaper, and ZACC were used as a weapon in a political struggle between two powerful factions as the battle to succeed Mugabe was reduced to a zero-sum game.
Moyo’s prominence in Zimbabwean politics and his record as a clean politician with no corruption scandals only served to exacerbate interest in the story. As a political actor this reputation was part of Moyo’s arsenal and tainting it could weaken his position as a king maker in the ruling party. Spending time defending himself meant time lost in the succession struggles, while potentially losing his integrity weakened him in the public eye and opened him up to political attack. Therefore, this became a typical political scandal: a ruling party politician with a clean image and a habit of railing against the transgressions of others caught dipping his fingers in the cookie jar. Also not lost to the readers and pursued relentlessly by The Herald was the fact that Moyo was not just a transgressing senior ruling party official, but he was the Minister of Higher Education, abusing funds meant to benefit students on attachment. To drive this point home, students through their representative groups became prominent voices in some of the stories.
As the largest daily in the state-run Zimbabwe Newspapers Ltd. group (Zimpapers) The Herald’s coverage of the scandal provides a glimpse into the role of state media in monitoring corruption and abuse of power, and in framing and facilitating debate on these issues. Across Africa, media have played a significant role in exposing corruption scandals and keeping politicians in check. In some cases, diligent work by investigative journalists mainly in the private media has ended the careers of senior politicians. Despite such efforts, however, the impact of exposing corruption remains questionable. This is mainly because anti-corruption crusades on the continent are often linked to regime change (Rønning, 2009). They are rarely genuine efforts to curb a serious socio-economic problem and improve the lives of citizens. Exposing scandals rarely contributes to democratisation and to wider concerns about press freedom. Instead, uncovering corruption is intertwined with the struggles for political power amongst the ruling elite.
Increasingly over the past few years, Zimbabwe’s state media became entangled in the power struggles between various factions of the ruling party (Chuma et al., 2020; Msimanga et al., 2021; Mpofu and Matsilele, 2020). To a considerable extent, control of the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services – under which state media fall – became critical to competing factions’ political prospects. For instance, former vice-president Joyce Mujuru’s expulsion from ZANU-PF and consequently from government was preceded by choreographed negative coverage by state media. 4 We argue that through selective coverage, use of frames, sources and other strategies, The Herald used the alleged abuse of ZIMDEF funds to portray Moyo as a corrupt politician, in order to publicly shame and discredit him, and as a result weaken his faction in the intense intra-party battle for the succession to Mugabe. Central to our discussion is whether coverage of this scandal was intended to serve genuine public concerns about corruption. We conclude that the scandal was part of a complex struggle between the two main factions in the ruling party, known in Zimbabwe as the G40 and Team Lacoste, which ended with the ouster of Mugabe in November 2017.
We make four main arguments. First, that there was systematic framing and bias in The Herald’s coverage, which portrayed Moyo as a corrupt, rogue politician within ZANU-PF, and attempted to close off competing arguments. Far from proving that The Herald in particular and Zimpapers in general are independent media that can pursue sensitive stories without undue influence from or fear of the government, the ZIMDEF scandal drew attention, once again, to the failure of these media to disentangle themselves from the party-state. Part of our argument therefore is that the ZIMDEF scandal demonstrates not only the agenda setting power of journalists or the media in Zimbabwe, but more importantly that state-controlled media are potent weapons at the hands of those who control them, regularly deployed against enemies.
In a developing country where politics has gradually become mediatised, newspapers and media in general have symbolic power in framing reality and setting the public agenda. In relation to the first argument, we argue that the ZIMDEF scandal became a tool in the succession battle. Important questions around systematic abuse of state resources for the benefit of the ruling party were avoided by the newspaper, with most of the stories sensationalised in order to embarrass Moyo. Our third argument is that the scandal laid bare the abuse and lack of neutrality of state institutions in Zimbabwe, with ZACC, whose efforts to arrest Moyo ignited the scandal, as an example. 5 The fourth argument is that the scandal offers a glimpse into the relationship between the ZANU-PF party-state and state-controlled media as the succession for Mugabe intensified. Further, it put a spotlight on the centrality of media – traditional and new – in the mediation of political scandals and power games in 21st century Zimbabwe. Like many other countries, media has gained centrality in political debates and developments in the country, despite social inequalities that result in unequal access and representation.
Note on methodology
The Herald’s coverage of this scandal was short but intensive and sensational, with Moyo the target of much shaming and ridicule. Most of the stories on the scandal were spread over 3 weeks, between 8 October and 28 October 2016, covering 18 issues. Over this period, The Herald carried 22 stories on the ZIMDEF scandal, most of them very prominent, intended to promote the narrative as a full-blown scandal, and that the level of abuse of power and resources was shocking. Sixteen (16) of the stories were the lead in their respective issues, which underlined the salience the scandal was given by the paper. There were four (4) inside stories, one (1) editorial, and one (1) analysis. This sizeable sample made the discussion straightforward and focussed. Newspapers, inter-alia, promote stories over others through leading with them, therefore making them prominent in the eyes and minds of the readers. This helps push an issue to the top of the news agenda. Framing analysis, which is a form of qualitative content analysis (Wimmer and Dominick, 2006: 152–153), was employed in the study to help identify the biases and assumptions in the coverage, as explained in the analysis.
In its basic function, framing analysis shows the salience and silence in news items (Entman, 1993; Goffman, 1974). Pan and Kosicki (1993: 59) argue that there are different types of framing formation in news presentation. These include script structures (narrative style), rhetorical structures (metaphors), syntactical structures (headlines, order of presentation) and thematic structures (casual statements or implied statements). Pan and Kosicki (1993) explain how technical devices such as headlines, subheadings, leads, quote and source selection, concluding paragraphs and statements, layout and visuals play a role in determining frames. This study used a combination of these to bring out intended frames by The Herald.
Understanding the media and Moyo’s role in Zimbabwean politics
Jonathan Moyo’s prominence in Zimbabwean politics made him an easy target for the creation of a political power scandal. Moyo was a prominent professor of public administration and a well-known critique of ZANU-PF in the 1990s, before he surprisingly joined the controversial government controlled Constitutional Commission in 1999. He quickly became a very divisive figure who elicited both enthusiastic support from the ZANU-PF faithful and hatred from the opposition, not least because of his aggressive approach to engaging political foes. Following ZANU-PF’s narrow win in the June 2000 parliamentary elections Moyo was appointed Minister of Information, a portfolio which he quickly made very prominent through a combination of charisma and aggression. By the early 2000s he was recognised as one of the leading spokesmen and most eloquent advocates of ZANU-PF and its programmes. This dominance of the public arena made him the perfect candidate for a political scandal.
Moyo also faced accusations of being the man behind controversial laws like the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) (2002) and the Broadcasting Services Act (2001), which stifled media space in Zimbabwe. Several newspapers were banned under AIPPA, which introduced mandatory licencing of journalists and media houses. In 2005 Moyo was expelled from ZANU-PF after being identified as the main organiser of a group that tried to propel Emmerson Mnangagwa (now president of Zimbabwe and Moyo’s arch foe) into the vice-president’s post, which had become vacant after the death of Mugabe’s faithful deputy, Simon Muzenda. 6
Moyo re-joined the ruling party in September 2009, and quickly regained his prominence. After ZANU-PF’s victory in the July 2013 elections, he was reappointed to the influential information ministry. In 2013–2014 Moyo again played a prominent role in another major development in the party; the ousting of vice-president Mujuru, which seemingly set Mnangagwa (Mujuru’s perennial rival) up for a clear succession. But Moyo soon emerged as the central figure in yet another faction, the G40, which brought together younger leaders in ZANU-PF, against Mnangagwa’s Team Lacoste. It is within this G40-Lacoste contest over Mugabe’s succession that The Herald’s coverage of the Moyo-ZIMDEF scandal is analysed. A number of studies have examined the media’s role in exposing corruption in Zimbabwe. The latest research by Ndhlovu and Santos (2021) examines audience reception of corruption stories while Makombe (2018) investigated media framing of corruption stories around the ZIMDEF scandal. In this milieu, our study goes beyond media framing and shows how an alleged case of corruption was turned into a power scandal, a field which is largely underdeveloped in Zimbabwe and Africa at large.
Conceptual framework
Mediated power scandals are common in heavily mediated Western societies. In Africa, the media’s ability to contribute to the fight against corruption has to overcome many hurdles. These include state control of dominant print media groups such as Zimpapers and, in some cases, long established broadcasting monopolies which have not easily given way to commercial competitors. On the other hand, privately owned media have to contend with statutory regulations and sustainability challenges in economies dominated by state enterprises, which severely curtails their contributions. Together, these factors present big challenges to press freedom and to their media’s monitorial role in many African scenarios.
‘Scandal’ carries connotations of moral values and judgement, relating to transgressing certain expected ethical standards, which has a shocking impact on the public (Heywood, 2015). Allern and Pollack (2012: 11) observe that despite many changes in its etymological evolution, even in its modern mediated form the word scandal entails key factors such as ‘sin, shame, punishment and atonement’ which can be traced to its historical and cultural roots. It is usually through media that a transgression can become the subject of public opinion. Indeed, news media ‘are the marketplace in which scandals are presented and developed as drama before an indignant and inquisitive public’ (Allern and Pollack, 2012: 10). Journalists covering these scandals are not just mere reporters, but actively ‘direct the progress of the scandal’ (Allern and Pollack, 2012: 10). In doing so, they are guided by news values such as what impact the story is likely to have and the prominence of the alleged transgressor.
In the ZIMDEF scandal, Jonathan Moyo ticked most of these boxes, which partly explains the logic behind The Herald’s effort to sensationalise the story. The concept of media logic by Altheide and Snow (1979) is useful in understanding the role of news media in the creation of power scandals. Media logic refers to ‘the influence of media (. . .) on “real world” events . . . as well as on their portrayal and constitution’ (McQuail, 1994: 109). It suggests media events are staged and are therefore performances. It is useful ‘for identifying the predilection of media producers for factors which they believe will increase audience attention and satisfaction’ (McQuail, 1994: 230).
The concept portrays social order as increasingly mediated and emphasises the power of the media in shaping social action (Altheide, 2013: 225). It views each medium as having distinctive features through which certain aspects of social life can be highlighted or emphasised to capture the attention of the audiences (Altheide, 2013: 226). To understand the predilection of a newspaper’s reports, we need to understand its framing of an issue and the systematic biases contained in its reports (see Entman, 1993: 52).
Related to the concept of media logic, is the concept of mediatisation. Mediatisation describes the growing and transformative role of media in society. This concept is closely related to and frequently contrasted with mediation (see Lundby, 2014; Lunt and Livingstone, 2016), the term which has been traditionally employed to explain the influence of media in how individuals experience reality. Mediatisation has come to be associated with the understanding that media have become amalgamated into the social fabric of life (Schulz, 2004). Reality, therefore, shapes and is shaped by media communication. Social actors in most societies understand the pervading influence of media in politics, business, economics and indeed all aspects of life (Schulz, 2004).
We use the term mediatisation as defined in Fornäs (2014). Here, mediatisation means that media technologies, texts and institutions have pervaded most aspects of society, to an extent that they have increasingly become influential across different aspects of life. These may be social, political, economic and religious. This captures the evolutionary sense of the word, the essence of which is a situation whereby social institutions and technologies increasingly intervene in social life (Hepp, 2013). Even allowing for the digital divide and the social and economic divides that are characteristic of Zimbabwean society, the pervasive influence of media on politics, the economy, religion and social life cannot be denied. Our submission is that where ‘culture, politics, and everyday life are increasingly saturated by media practices and texts’ (Fornäs, 2014: 485), social actors realise the importance of institutions such as The Herald, which mediate and in a sense play a part in defining the world around us. They (social actors) therefore sometimes carefully and purposefully control and deploy these in order to gain dominance.
Mediatisation explains, therefore, the impact not just of media in society, but of social actors’ realisation that the centrality of media in society give them (media) a defining role. Although Zimbabwe cannot be defined as media-saturated society in the mould of northern European nations like Norway, media are increasingly inseparable from social life. This role has been further enhanced by the dramatic diffusion of the Internet and the platforms it enables, particularly social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and many others that keep cropping up and diffusing steadily.
In the ZIMDEF scandal for instance, the mediation was mainly through a combination of traditional print media such as The Herald, and Twitter, where Jonathan Moyo developed a steady following. These are the platforms that played a leading role in framing the political scandal. Media are recognised as the main sources not just of information, but of how information is framed as growing numbers of society become part of the media public. This media-constructed public explains an agreement (among various actors involved in framing the scandal) on the increasing role of media in the framing of reality in Zimbabwe.
Interpretive framework
The establishment of an interpretive framework (Allern and Pollack, 2012) is an important aspect of how a political scandal unfolds. Allern and Pollack (2012) posit that the first act by news organisations in telling a scandal involves the establishment of a media framework through which the story is told. Items that fit within this dominant framework are prioritised in the stories on the scandal; that is even when attempts are made, for instance, ‘to tell the other side of the story’. Readers form sensory impressions of the story and get contextual experiences which help them to formulate meanings within the boundaries set by the frames within which the story is located (Goffman, 1974).
Framing works closely with media bias, which is any ‘systematic favouring of one position’ (Street, 2011: 26). Bias is not just about the validity of a media outlet’s reports (Street, 2011). It is about its choice of angle in a story, the salience of themes, and how certain individuals are framed, projected or relied upon as sources. Media logic therefore suggests that newspapers expose scandals not so much because media adhere to a particular moral view of society. Instead, scandals are exposed because newspapers need, inter alia, to be seen as projecting such a view in order to be legitimate or credible. Scandals help newspapers to increase sales and cement their presence. The media seeks to be seen as identifying with the public, therefore being seen as a moral force and the voice of the weak in society, which has a legitimating function. Journalists and their media organisations project themselves as society’s moral guardians, exposing wrong and speaking truth to power. Efforts to attract audiences or to improve ratings fit perfectly with political scandals.
For The Herald, three considerations can be read from the coverage of the ZIMDEF scandal; (1) the pressure for increasing sales, (2) being seen as an active watchdog that is not afraid to take on powerful figures in society and (3) advancing the chances of the Mnangagwa-Lacoste faction in the succession battle by weakening the Moyo-G40 faction. The newspaper’s reluctance to scrutinise ZACC and to link this to other scandals involving government/ZANU-PF officials makes sense within this logic. Critical reading therefore makes it difficult to view The Herald as a moral guardian of the public in the context of this exposé.
Thompson’s (2005) mediated visibility, which is premised on the idea that in the mediated environment of the current age politicians thrive on publicity, is helpful in explaining why Jonathan Moyo was a perfect target for a political scandal. In Zimbabwe, few politicians have enjoyed as much mediated visibility as Jonathan Moyo over the past two decades. Such visibility can, however, be an albatross on the shoulders of politicians, since the prominence of the political scandal depends on the prominence of the individuals involved (see Jenssen and Fladmoe, 2012: 51).
Political scandals, therefore, underline the point that the powerful in society are subject to forms of visibility that are enabled by the mass media (Thompson, 2005: 41). Visibility is an important feature of political life because of its importance in the exercise of political power. In order to gain political capital through building a following and being elected to political office among other things, political leaders in today’s complex societies depend on the media of communication to make them known and to have what can be termed positive visibility. In Zimbabwe, and particularly within ZANU-PF, state media hold immense power because of their domination of the public sphere, built over a century of being the leader in the media market.
The Herald acted as a ‘backstage and a director’ (to use Pawełczyk, 2014: 47) of the theatre that the scandal became, using its power to release information at the opportune moment, to promote a positive image of vice-president Mnangagwa (condemning corruption) while publicly shaming Moyo (as a corrupt politician soiling the good name of the ruling party), thereby setting the interpretive framework and directing the narrative for its readers. The frames were set so that it was Moyo as the individual politician who was corrupt. Despite many worrying indications that the ZIMDEF scandal pointed towards a more profound blurring of lines between party and state in the use of national resources, not only was the ruling party distanced from Moyo’s alleged corruption without any serious investigation; it was portrayed as fighting (through leaders like Mnangagwa and institutions like the ZACC) to rid itself and the country of corrupt leaders.
Mass media are positioned well to create scandals because unlike other forms of communication, they can spread messages quicker and across a wider range of social groups. Even in countries with lower media density mass media are ‘a central source of information about what is happening in various sectors of society’ and also, critically, provide ‘a major arena for public debate and . . . [for] determining the political agenda’ (Waldahl, 2001: 3).
Discussion of findings: frames and biases in The Herald
The ZIMDEF scandal was broken by the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent on 7 October 2016. In the story, titled -Jonathan Moyo in corruption storm – the newspaper reported a team of investigators from ZACC had tried to arrest Jonathan Moyo during a cabinet meeting, and were only stopped by then president Robert Mugabe. The following day The Herald picked up the story with the headline Students Bay for Minister’s Blood (The Herald, 08/10/2016) and subsequently used successive reports to frame the story into a big political scandal. We identified three themes in the trend of reporting adopted by the paper and the way the scandal was framed. First was the systematic framing mainly of Moyo but also of his deputy Gandawa and the then vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, to paint their faction as corrupt, self-serving and in total disregard of legal institutions. This turned the corruption case into a political scandal, because the faction violated the ‘rules and procedures in the exercise of political power’ (Midtbø, 2007: 25). The second framework was to build widespread condemnation from society, with many different voices showing outrage, calling for Jonathan Moyo to face the law. This is a case of how power scandals are ‘examples of the personalization of politics. . . individuals, rather than ideologies or parties, are usually in the eye of scandals’. Tumber (2004: 1036), as Jonathan Moyo became the face of the ZIMDEF power scandal. Thirdly, the systematic use of sources fitted the pattern in much of the literature on political scandals, which suggests that journalists use sources to promote preferred narratives and suppress alternative ones. The next section discusses and analyses these themes.
Factional framing: the corrupt minister and his associates
The Herald’s targeting of Moyo was, on the surface, surprising when read against Zimpapers’ well-known reluctance to criticise senior members of the ruling establishment. As the scandal unfolded, it became clear that both the actions of ZACC and The Herald’s reports were targeting Moyo in order to cripple his faction and to strengthen his Team Lacoste rivals. For instance, despite the existence of the two factions and the well-known acrimony between them, The Herald made no reference to them. The paper’s inclination to cast then vice-President Mnangagwa, well-known to be the leader of the Team Lacoste, as the ‘disciplined’ leader who was taking an unequivocal stand against corruption underlined its inclinations towards his faction. Ignoring the factionalism raging within ZANU-PF could perhaps be described as an attempt by the paper to present the story as nothing more than an exposé about abuse of public funds by powerful figures within the administration, more like the role played by The Chronicle in the Willowgate scandal of the late 1980s.
Four lead stories in The Herald (10/10/16) Professor Moyo likens himself to Robin Hood, and Acting President Springs to Moyo’s Defence (13/10/16), No One is above the law-ED (25/10/16), 7 The Corrupt must face the music- (28/10/16), offer examples of how coverage of the scandal sought to leave little room to see Moyo as anything but an unrepentantly corrupt politician. The placement of stories on the front page suggests they are important and are the ‘prime editorial real estate’ (Weldon, 2008: 30). The story No one is above the law – ED (The Herald, 13/10/2016) attempted to bestow Mnangagwa with some moral authority in his defence of the attempted arrest of Moyo (which obviously worked in Lacoste faction’s favour). The headline of the story is reinforced by two sub-headlines titled: Only President immune to criminal prosecution and Everyone else is fair game, says Vice President, which gives Mnangagwa positive agency. The story counters an argument raised by then vice President, Phelekezela Mphoko, a key ally of the G40 faction who proclaimed that Ministers were immune from prosecution, in to defend Moyo.
Even Mugabe, who enjoyed the highest moral authority in the ruling party and presumably the government, was used to frame the attempted arrest of Moyo as the right thing for ZACC to do-as evidenced in the story The corrupt must face music- Pres (The Herald, 28/10/16). Mugabe was quoted as justifying ZACC’s actions and bolstering his deputy Mnangagwa’s sentiment that no one was above the law; therefore, this could not just be Mnangagwa’s faction view, as Mugabe who is/was above factions was expressing the same. In order to remove any feeling that Moyo was being targeted because of his faction, it made sense to bring in the president, who was beyond reproach within ZANU-PF and in the state media. For Mugabe, who may after all have been against Moyo’s arrest, it was also important as a statesman to put himself above factions and to be seen as leading the fight against corruption, especially as he did not mention anyone by name.
Perhaps feeling he was denied a reply in any of the stories to offer his own narrative, Moyo took to the social networking site Twitter, where he explained that the money had been spent on bicycles in his constituency, Tsholotsho North in South-Western Zimbabwe. He likened himself to British folk legend Robin Hood, saying the funds were benefitting his poor constituency. In The Herald (10/10/16) the story was reported with a spin, using the leaders of the Zimbabwe National Students Association (ZINASU), Zimbabwe Congress of Student Unions (ZICOSU) and an association of college lecturers to lambast Moyo as an irresponsible minister who was trying to hide behind poor constituents when he was robbing poor students.
This selection of sources is critical in understanding the way The Herald framed Moyo and the whole scandal. The narratives for power scandals are ‘ready-written drama with set roles for the actors involved’ (Andén-Papadopoulos and Widestedt, 2006). Traditionally ZINASU is seen as oppositional to the government while ZICOSU is viewed as a creation of the ruling party, which was meant to dilute the influence of the broader, more representative ZINASU. The manipulation of sources was clear especially in the follow up stories. Outside the attempt to present ZACC as a professional, independent entity there was heavy reliance on the voices of student organisations, who represented the constituency that was ‘robbed’ by Moyo’s callousness. Sourcing the two rival student groups condemning the minister reinforced its narrative of portraying him as corrupt and unrepentant. ZINASU called for Minister Moyo’s resignation, a call The Herald reiterated in subsequent stories. Hence, power scandals, as shown in the way the media framed Moyo, are ‘created by journalists not only to have contact with visible sources, but also to be able to mobilize reactions from them’ (Allern and Pollack, 2012: 12).
The students were curiously enough not cited as saying Moyo and his deputy abused student funds for the interests of the party, ZANU-PF; The Herald quoted the students as having complained that the Ministers siphoned the funds, ‘to strengthen their social ties’ in their respective constituencies (Tsholotsho North and Magunje) at the expense of the intended beneficiaries. The words ‘to strengthen social ties in their . . . constituencies’ were also used in the story Parly summons Professor Moyo (21/10/16), in which parliament was reported as having asked the minister to explain the allegations he was facing. This choice of words was deliberate, intended to create the impression that Moyo and Gandawa were benefitting as individuals from this abuse of funds; the ruling party, the government, and President Mugabe were neither associated with the transgression nor benefitting from it.
Also, several issues raised in Moyo’s tweets were ignored or suppressed, as they would have diluted the preferred narrative. For instance, Moyo’s tweet, ‘I would rather be Robin Hood than a cruel tribalist, murderer & UN identified diamond cross border thief’ (07/10/16) was clear reference to Mnangagwa’s past during the Gukurahundi genocide, and his alleged role during the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Furthermore, Moyo’s admission that he had diverted funds to his constituency raised questions over widespread abuse of state funds for party projects by government and ruling party officials, which diligent investigative journalism would have found worthy to pursue.
The stories Acting President Springs to Moyo’s Defence and No one is above the law – ED were juxtaposed to show that VP Mphoko tolerated his G40 ally Moyo’s corruption while ED (then VP Mnangagwa), the statesman stood for the rule of law and was against the idea that anyone should be above the law. While it was easy to dismiss VP Mphoko’s claim that cabinet ministers were above the law, The Herald’s failure to put these remarks within the context of public perceptions of selective application of the law in the country undermined any suggestions of investigative journalism. There was no attempt, for instance, to question why part of the money was used for the ZANU-PF ‘million-man’ march. Nor were there attempts to link the scandal to earlier cases of alleged corruption involving senior government or ruling party officials. Further investigations could also be done, to establish if abuse of state funds had become rife within ZANU-PF, especially when Moyo said he had used the money for party projects. Instead, the paper ensured that Mugabe was not touched in the reports, quoting unnamed or anonymous legal experts claiming that only the Zimbabwean President was above the law. Allern and Pollack (2012: 312) notes that power scandals are further amplified by editorial practices where stories are ‘spiced up’ by making references to ‘quotes from anonymous sources that in reality are subjective characterisations or personal interpretations, often expressed as part of a battle between different party factions or a power struggle’.
To remind readers that its coverage was fair and was not asking for anything more than Moyo himself had previously demanded, The Herald, LOOKING BACK: Carry your own cross-Moyo tells looters (12/10/16) reproduced a 2-year old story in which Moyo criticised controversial politician Temba Mliswa for allegedly trying to use the ruling party to evade prosecution, after accusations that Mliswa had tried to extort a local businessman. Politicians particularly in a society like Zimbabwe, are often accused of double standards and failing to practice what they preach (cf. Allern and Pollack, 2012). The biblical metaphor in that story, reproduced to remind readers that Moyo was attempting to evade the law having previously condemned similar attempts by another politician, would resonate with Zimbabwe’s relatively Christian readers.
Face the music! Widespread condemnation of Professor Moyo’s transgression
Condemnation of the scandal victim is commonly used as part of the interpretive framework for understanding the transgression. Usually, many diverse voices in society are used to express outrage, condemn the transgression, and to call for the resignation or the arrest of the victim. Part of the build-up of the scandal is to demonstrate that a wide cross-section of groups in society are dissociating themselves from the individual involved in the scandal, there is declining or zero sympathy for them, and more groups are calling for their resignation (Allern and Pollack, 2012) or even arrest.
In the ZIMDEF scandal students (Students bay for ministers’ blood – 08/10/12; Professor Moyo under fire over Robin Hood – 11/10/16), the army (Army speaks out on corruption – 25/10/16), police (Police speak on Moyo arrest – 19/10/16), the Zimbabwean parliament (Parly summons Professor Moyo – 21/10/16) and lawyers (Prof Moyo has a case to answer: lawyers – 15/10/16) were all used to show growing and widespread public outrage against Moyo. A street vendor acting as a concerned member of society even approached the courts to ask them to compel ZACC to bring Moyo to account (High Court approached for minister’s arrest – 14/10/16/; Court asked to force ZACC to arrest Moyo – 20/10/16). The intensity of stories around Moyo are a highlight of one of the key characteristics of power scandals; they are ‘not merely something that is revealed, but something that is shown, reported, staged and kept alive day after day’ (Ekström and Johansson, 2008: 72). Hence, Moyo’s case was dramatised and became a soap opera which had many plots.
The students’ calls have been dealt with in the previous section. The army story was based on the appearance of Major-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, the Administrative Chief of Staff, before the Parliamentary Committee on Defence. Nyikayaramba was reported as having said corruption was ‘a cancer’ in Zimbabwe and if not taken seriously could pose a threat to national security as citizens could protest. Although he did not mention Moyo or the ZIMDEF scandal, his warning that ‘If ordinary people see that nothing is being done to corrupt individuals, that will lead to disgruntlement and eventually instability’ was a clear enough call within the context. Other groups also expressed similar sentiments. The Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ) as the benefactor of ZIMDEF reiterated that its contributions were meant to benefit students and not Minister Moyo and his deputy (ZIMDEF funders speak on Moyo – 12/10/16). The plight of ZIMDEF workers, facing retrenchment because of limited funding was also highlighted, with The Herald (11/10/16) – Zimdef employees face the chop – noting that the development occurred against the background of alleged abuse of funds by the two ministers. Just like the plight of students, this story was likely to get public sympathy, leading to more indignation against the culprits.
The police story was based on the Zimbabwe Republic Police’s reaction to the citizen who had petitioned the courts enforce Moyo’s arrest. The The Herald relied on the petitioner, Mr. Hardlife Mudzingwa, to maintain its narrative that Moyo should face the consequences of his actions. Mudzingwa criticised VP Mphoko for suggesting that Moyo could not be arrested because he was a minister, conduct which he said undermined the constitutional mandate of ZACC. This was reiterated by lawyers, who all expressed the view that Moyo was not above the law. Coming one after the other and with most of them cast as the lead or occupying other important sections of the newspaper, these stories created the impression that the minister was in serious trouble, and that there was widespread outrage against his misdemeanours.
Sources as part of building a narrative
The interpretive framework in the ZIMDEF scandal cannot be understood outside the careful use of sources for the stories that were churned out during the short period in which the issue took centre stage in The Herald. Thompson (2000) says there are five characteristics that transform corruption into a scandal. These are (1) violation of values or norms, which is what Moyo and his deputy allegedly did; (2) publicity, that is, the alleged transgression or act of corruption must be put in the public spotlight, not remain within the involved parties; (3) the act must induce shock when people learn about it (The Herald clearly worked to create this shock in various groups); (4) reaction to the scandal in the form of sources willing to offer criticism; and finally (5) the alleged transgression must threaten the reputation of the politician involved: in the ZIMDEF scandal, Jonathan Moyo’s career as a politician and his ability to be kingmaker for the G40 faction were on the line.
The first, second, third and fifth characteristics have been dealt in much of the article. For the fourth characteristic, Thompson (2000) explains that media mobilise reactions from sources, as part of creating hype against the transgressor. In the ZIMDEF scandal The Herald carefully chose sources which had the effect of achieving three objectives. First, demonstrating widespread societal outrage, which justified both the paper’s pursuit of the story and the actions of ZACC. This outrage cut across the political divide in Zimbabwe, which is why the warring student bodies, ZINASU and ZICOSU, were in agreement. But the outrage went beyond students as the deprived beneficiaries. ZIMDEF workers, presumably ordinary hard-working people faced a bleak future as dwindling funds forced the organisation to retrench. Employers as represented by the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe felt robbed when they learnt their contributions were benefitting two corrupt politicians and not the intended poor students.
Second, The Herald needed to undermine Moyo’s argument about political persecution and VP Mphoko’s attempt to defend Moyo from arrest. As professionals, lawyers provided the required authority to rebuff Mphoko and to undermine Moyo’s defence (Prof Moyo has a case to answer: lawyers – 16/10/16). Using VP Mnangagwa helped to both bolster the case against Moyo and simultaneously promote Mnangagwa in the public eye as the clean politician. Mugabe’s voice (The corrupt must face music- Pres 20/10/16) was even more useful in putting the matter to bed. As the only person beyond reproach within the ruling party and for state-controlled media, President Mugabe’s voice carried the weight of a gospel.
The third effect of the selection of sources was to help strengthen the narrative that Moyo was a corrupt, unrepentant and hypocritical politician who preyed on poor students’ funds. Moyo was given no space to defend himself or to present his own side of the story. While there were a few stories based on members of his factions such as Mphoko and former minister Saviour Kasukuwere, these were ridiculed or debunked using other sources. Moyo turned to his Twitter handle to connect directly with audiences, but his tweets were used by The Herald to scandalise and ridicule him, as the Robin Hood story illustrates.
Conclusion
The Herald framed the ZIMDEF scandal as a problem concerning only one bad apple that needed to be weeded out, but factional interests were evident in its failure to engage in a more critical debate about corruption, which required further investigation of allegations that state funds had been used to fund ruling party activities. The Herald could benefit from being seen as playing a watchdog role in society; taking on a powerful ruling party member could project it as an independent paper, which could be an important legitimating exercise. It could also benefit from increased sales resulting from the sensational story. But the scandal became a missed opportunity to question the extension of internal ruling party politics into state institutions that are supposed to act independently to safeguard the interests of society. Pertinent questions about how ZACC could be strengthened to give it more independence and remove suspicions that it acted on the whims of those who controlled its commissioners were missed. Coverage of the scandal failed to go beyond attempts to influence the direction of change within the power struggles in ZANU-PF by merely focussing on shaming Moyo as an influential figure of the G40 faction. This power scandal further showed the decay of the supposedly public media which is prone to abuse by any faction within the ruling party. The scandal further exposes the journalistic ethical dilemmas, as ethics are thrown away as journalists tour the line of whoever is in control of the media which in this case becomes the Information Minister.
