Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) End of an era: BBC returns to Zimbabwe

COMMENT - Time for the BBC to come clean, and own up to their role in the regime change agenda. This is most definitely NOT a time to look wordward. The BBC needs to make some serious changes to it's reporters and management, if it wants to regain it's reputation for professionalism and objectivity, which was completely squandered on regime change efforts against Zimbabwe. The Sekai Holland story is a place to start, why the BBC, without fact checking, just printed whatever the opposition said. Why it always printed these negative blurs about Zimbabwe's inflation rate, even when the story had nothing to do with inflation. Why it was banned from Zimbabwe in the first place and for what story. Time to come clean.

End of an era: BBC returns to Zimbabwe
Samantha Chidzero
Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:22:00 +0000

THE Zimbabwe Government has told the BBC there was never a ban on its operations and it can resume reporting, legally and openly, in Zimbabwe. The BBC's Andrew Harding returned to Zimbabwe yesterday and immediately talked about "an optimistic Harare" signaling signs of an improvement in relations between the country and the broadcaster. The BBC return ushers in a new era in Britain-Zimbabwe relations.

PM Gordon Brown has made diplomatic overtures to the Zimbabwe government in line with an effort by the European Union to re-engage with the Zimbabwean government to end a decade of thorny relations sparked off by a bilateral dispute between Britain and Zimbabwe.

The minister of media, information and publicity, Webster Shamu, that the BBC had never banned from "carrying out lawful activities" inside the country, but added that the BBC and the inclusive Government had now "acknowledged the need to put behind us the mutually ruinous relationship of the past".

"It is five months since I was last in Zimbabwe, and there is no doubt that the mood has changed," says Harding as he reported from "within Zimbabwe".

"I'm here officially now, rather than sneaking around undercover, and of course that alters one's perceptions," added the BBC reporter.

"Almost everyone I've spoken to over the past few days has, with varying degrees of caution, confessed to feeling at least a twinge of optimism about this ... nation."

Unlike in previous reports by the BBC, Harding was seen next to full supermarket shelves and aisles. Harding went to Mbare, a high-density surburb near town and interviewed some residents there. The responses were positive.

"We can afford to get meat and bread now. The schools were closed for a long time. Now there is a change and a future. Ask anyone - even the kids," said one Mbare resident.

"I think life is getting better. Because last year even if you had cash you could buy nothing because there was nothing in the shops."

Harding also spoke to government officials including PM Morgan Tsvangirai and Zanu PF National Chairman John Nkomo.

"Sometimes it is frustratingly slow, but there is a working relationship. Let me say the hardliners have come to accept that change is irreversible," said the PM

"This is a process that has gathered it's own momentum. Zimbabwe is changing. There's so much interest in investing in this country. All those are positive signs."

Article continues below

BREAKING ICE: Zanu PF national chairman, John Nkomo spoke to the BBC on Wednesday

At the Zanu PF headquarters the BBC reporter met with Zanu PF national chairman Nkomo, who "seemed as upbeat as the prime minister".

Nkomo rejected the BBC's suggestion that members of Zanu PF were trying to derail the inclusive Government.

"I don't think there are any hardliners in Zanu PF," he said. "President Mugabe… is a principled man. Once he agrees on a programme he wants it implemented. It is in the interest of the whole of Zimbabwe that the agreement succeeds."

MUTUAL RESPECT

The BBC's World Affairs editor Jon Williams was upbeat about the new development: "We are pleased we have been able to reach an agreement and we look forward to being able to operate legally in Zimbabwe."

Declining to comment on the BBC's previous exclusion from the country, Williams said: "We all recognise the realities of the situation. If we look back, we will never look forward. We have different perspectives on this, but we have both agreed we need to look forward.

"The most important thing is not what has happened over the past 10 years, it is that we can go into Zimbabwe and report openly and legally."

Williams added that no restrictions had been placed on what the BBC could report and that it was currently considering whether it would open a full bureau in the country.

The BBC agreed to employ local people if they ever opened a bureau in Harare. The corporation is currently free to send crews into Zimbabwe.

Labels: BBC, COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, HYPOCRISY, NEOCOLONIALISM

posted by MrK @ 3:09 PM