Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Zimbabwe’s new experts and commentators

Zimbabwe’s new experts and commentators
Philip Mukaronda—Opinion
Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:45:00 +0000

DEAR EDITOR—A while ago a white man once said that if you want to hide something from a black man put it in a book. I hate to harshly criticize my own people, but the commentaries and arguments we hear on Zimbabwe sometimes point to this remarkable ‘truth’. I have seen and heard many a commentator on Zimbabwe who are ignorant of the issues being discussed and often replace facts with emotion and mindless opinion. I hate to be so brutally frank, but it had to be said.

Many of these experts find it fashionable to just criticize the government without giving themselves time to reflect on the future and how they can positively contribute themselves - today or sometime in the future. Mugabe bashing has almost become a songbook that everybody sings from. i think people should grow up and learn to think about possible scenarios to get themselves out of their problems without 'gundamusaira'.

We are all unhappy and sad about the state of our nation; but I don't know how a whole nation can think in concert and 'sing the same song'. Those who stand in front of people day-in-and-day-out and repeat the same mantra about hopw eveiul and how bad Mugabe is without giving concrete solutions and ways out might as well stay put where they hail from and feel sorry for themselves.

I read an article on the Zimbabwe Guardian a while ago which criticized ‘political and economic commentators’ from Zimbabwe. That article was spot-on. Many of these commentators should give themselves time to read about Zimbabwe and what exactly caused the problems we currently experiencing in the motherland before they make a shameful spectacle in front of the world. I find it ridiculous to see the marked difference in depth between a BBC correspondent (interviewer) and some excitable Zimbabwean political commentator, that just goes there to repeat a mantra we have heard a thousand times: "Hee Mugabe this, Mugabe that..." We are tired of these shallow commentators.

A few days ago, I heard a Zimbabwean 'economics commentator' who spoke about the hyperinflationary climate in the country, but failed to even mention the word ‘sanctions’ in the whole interview. How could one make such a mistake when discussing inflation in Zimbabwe, especially when they are an 'economics expert'? What do they teach in political economy these days? How do these people become experts overnight? This is ridiculous and bizzare, to say the least. He (the 'economics commentator') used all the reasoning he had learnt in his ‘elementary’ economics class about “too much money chasing too few goods,” etc, etc.

The ‘economics expert’ as he was called by his interviewer also failed to mention that the IMF and World had squeezed the Zimbabwean economy and contributed to the heavily skewed structure we see today. The interviewer failed to ask questions on the role of sanctions in creating the hyperinflationary environment we see in Zimbabwe today. All they could talk about was how quickly the rate was dropping and how many Zim dollars it takes to get a pound. Ridiculous stuff! What should I do with that kind of information? I need solutions and rational analyses, not these shallow junior school debates.

The IMF in Zimbabwe has abrogated its role of ensuring world economic stability; and has been complicit in economic destabilization. The twin Bretton Woods institutions have been used by its principal powerful shareholders from Britain and the U.S., in particular the IMF, to penalize Zimbabwe for its national policies, especially the land redistribution exercise.

This is not to exonerate Zimbabwe from bad policies, but how could an ‘economics expert’ miss this brute economic reality?

This 'commentator' also failed to explain that when Zimbabwe defaulted on its IMF debt in 2001, the IMF refused to reschedule its debt, or offer alternative lines of credit or other support to ensure stability. Yet, the IMF has learnt such support to countries such as Argentina which defaulted on their sovereign debts. This was either missed or not understood by our expert.

Many other issues have been discussed which have shown ignorance on the part of the interviewer and the interviewee and such parroting by these individuals has poisoned the ever-gullible Zimbabwean population. Emotion has substituted facts in most cases and what should be intellectual debates have been reduced to ‘cheap pub talk’.

I think institutions that hire these people should vet them properly and not just throw ‘anything’ to discuss otherwise complicated and significant issues. I cannot believe the BBC sometimes when it asks the same ignorant people to come on the programme. Sometimes I feel like they are trying to say: 'Look how dumb Zimbabweans are!' Zimbabweans have a reputation of being very literate. That reputation is slowly being eroded by those who just hop-step-and-jump onto TV platforms they know nothing about and discuss issues that expose their naivety. I have noticed Sky News has stopped inviting Zimbabwean political commentators and are substituting them with informed ‘African’ ones. We are the only country where our issues are discussed by other nationalities on TV. This is because we never delve deeper into issues and take a step back and learn. We are quick to jump in front of lights, like rabbits that jump in front of a moving car in a daze and get hit.

Philip Mukaronda—Opinion

Labels: INTERNATIONAL MEDIA, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 4:45 AM