I note with concern The Herald’s continued publication of malicious and defamatory stories and outright lies about the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe without according him the right of reply.
In today’s issue of The Herald, in a story headlined “EU set to renew illegal sanctions regime”, you allege that the EU is set to renew sanctions on Zimbabwe following the Prime Minister’s recommendations in his address to Western diplomats in Harare on Monday.
This is despite the fact that the Prime Minister never made such an address as he was out of the country on Monday and is only expected back Thursday.
On Monday, MDC secretary-general Hon Tendai Biti and Home Affairs Minister Hon Theresa Makone addressed diplomats at Harvest house on the violence engulfing the country and the Prime Minister was already out of the country, having left at the weekend.
Your reporter, Tendai Mugabe, who attended a press conference soon after this diplomatic briefing can testify to the absence of the Prime Minister at this event. But he went on to create a fictitious presence of the popularly elected politician your paper loves to loathe with a passion.
You allege that he addressed the diplomats soon after the looting at the Gulf Complex in Harare and you even go on to create a fictitious quote by Prime Minister Tsvangirai. This is malicious as it is defamatory.
For all his miracles, the immortal Jesus Christ was never at Galilee and Jerusalem at the same time. It is astonishing how The Herald would find it plausible that the mortal Prime Minister can have physical presence at two different places at the same time!
Yesterday, again despite glaring evidence of Zanu PF youths having gone on the rampage in Harare, you published another unbalanced and defamatory story alleging that this deplorable violence was instigated by the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. Your newspaper continues to deliberately misquote the Prime Minister on the events happening in Egypt as an excuse for abusive and spiteful journalism.
There has been a relentless campaign of downright lies, including cooked-up stories about the Prime Minister’s love life, that have been published consistently in The Herald with neither shame nor compunction.
The public media have an obligation to publish the truth and to give fair coverage to all subjects of their stories. They have a bigger obligation to abide by the ethics of journalism, to give people their right of reply and to prove that they are a platform for diversified views and opinions.
The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe is an important national figure who won an election and who deserves respect and fair coverage.
Letters to The Herald from the Prime Minister’s office seeking redress on various defamatory stories have largely been ignored, all in the spirit of contrived hate journalism against his person and office.
Day in and day out, week in and week out, Zimbabweans continue to be poisoned by the relentless hate speech and the acres of space you accord to anyone with anything bad to say against the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, the Right Honourable Morgan Tsvangirai.
This needless pursuit of spiteful journalism is not in the national interest; neither does it enhance the credibility of The Herald as a national newspaper that serves all the people of Zimbabwe in spite of their tribal, political, or religious differences.
Not only does your brand of “journalism” brazenly fly in the face of Article 19 of the Global Political Agreement, but it also serves to confirm that The Herald has become a purveyor of unbridled hate speech specifically targeted at one of the Principals of the inclusive government.
I hope that for once, this letter will be published in the interest of balanced and fair journalism.
Luke Tamborinyoka, Spokesperson
Office of the Prime Minister
Harare
