Claimed Political Violence at Matapi Flats Looked Staged

I am extremely concerned at the unprofessional bias displayed by the BBC TV crew that was attacked at Matapi flats in Mbare.

After watching the clip on their website I have concluded that there is no clearcut and conclusive evidence that this was an attack by Zanu-PF supporters.

I am neither a supporter of Zanu-PF, nor of the MDC. However I remain unequivocally and proudly a Zimbabwean. I am therefore extremely concerned at unwarranted negative publicity soiling Zimbabwe's image.

These unwarranted claims of political violence foul the atmosphere and increase the likelihood of real political violence and instability taking root.

The first clear statement in Shona that I heard is from a woman who says 'Indayi munonamira kumba kwenyu.' The direct translation for this is 'Go and stick [the posters] on your own house.'

The BBC reporter translates that as 'You can't stick them here.' which entirely removes the context that this could have been simply residents trying to stop people from messing up their walls.

You just don't go and stick up posters on other people's residences. I certainly would not allow anyone to stick posters on the walls of the house where I am staying. Cleaning up the mess can be a costly and time wasting job.

Secondly there is a strong possibility that the people fighting were a rented crowd. The fighting looked staged. Most of the people seemed to be standing around watching the spectacle. Those fighting never looked like they really wanted to land seriously damaging blows.

There was certainly no hint from the actions of the crowd and even the people fighting as to what their political affiliations where. It was left to the reporters and their handlers to tell us that the attackers are Mugabe's supporters. From the contents of the clip it was a mere assumption, or fabrication, on their part.

Their reasons for reaching that conclusion are not given. One is therefore left strongly suspicious that they were simply trying to manufacture a scenario to support their pre-conceptions and agenda, not the reality.

Lastly, despite being 'attacked' the BBC crew and their equipment survived unscathed. Chances are that Zanu-PF supporters would have made an effort to prevent footage of the attack from going public. Thus cameras, tapes and recording media would most likely have been destroyed or damaged.

Also the attack on the crew only came towards the end of the filming. I would like to believe that the crew would have been the first to be attacked. After all a couple of white reporters in Mbare are about as inconspicuous as a palm groove and a beach on the North Pole. So they can't claim nobody was noticing them all along.

The reporter claims that they retreated to a 'safer neighbourhood' but was clearly still at Matapi flats. The whole complex is about 500m long and 200m wide. If there was a crowd of Zanu-PF supporters baying for their blood they wouldn't have been able to remain within the complex.

As the reporter gives his report, he sheepishly says, 'Some stuff was thrown at us.' Apparently water was poured on the team. Having water thrown at you is the cultural equivalent of having a shoe thrown at you in the Middle East.

At the end of the clip when the 'main actor' gives his final speech there is clearly some cheering. 'Hip! Hip! Hooray!'. What are the members of the audience cheering?

One would expect a group that had just been violently attacked to be sombre and worried, not cheering. Cheering suggests that they had achieved their goal. If the goal had only been sticking posters, that doesn't look like it was achieved in any meaningful measure.

However if it was creating an attention grabbing scene, it was a huge success – with the help of the BBC – whether witting or unwitting I wouldn't know. I think the audience were cheering that the 'main actor' put up a successful and convincing performance.

There are three distinct possibilities. It could be political violence. It could be vigilantism. The drama could also have been stage-managed.

From what I have seen of the clip it was most probably vigilantism against messing up of walls. There is also a very strong probability of this having been staged. I would be very reluctant to say this was genuine political violence. It simply doesn't fit the pattern of typical political violence.

Further, on the possibility that this was staged, it could have been staged by the politician who took your reporters around. Based on the evidence available one cannot rule out that it could have been staged by your reporters as well in an effort to create more dramatic news than the dour spectacle of both parties campaigning for the same outcome in a referendum.

Let me stress that I am extremely worried when people go out of their way to manufacture negative publicity for Zimbabwe, most likely in an effort to make their news more saleable.

The negative publicity does not just paint one or two politicians in bad light but the entire country. Events such as xenophobic attacks in South Africa can be traced partly to the negative perceptions of the country caused by persistent negative publicity. While our politicians have done most of the damage to our country, unwarranted negative publicity from other sources does not help either.