By IPS Correspondents
HARARE, Jun 7 2001 (IPS)

Zimbabwe’s state-controlled national broadcaster has banned a new live TV programme, ‘Talk to the Nation’, which was allegedly being used to polish President Robert Mugabe’s image ahead of the next year’s crucial presidential election.

Sponsored by pro-government civic organisation, the National Development Assembly (NDA), the programme hit a wrong cue when most of the callers were critical of President Mugabe’s policies.

Without notice, the show was switched off air this week just after three episodes and 23 more remaining.

The producers’ sin appeared to be their decision to allow the appearance of Tapiwa Mashakada, a Member of Parliament (MP) from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Mashakada outclassed the ruling party’s legislator, David Chapfika during the debate.

Zimbabwe has no private public broadcasting station and all radio and television news is biased in favour of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party as the state-controlled media hold a monopoly on in-country radio and television broadcasting licenses.

By plugging the programme off the air, the ZBC stands to lose 4.5 million Zimbabwe dollars in potential production. One US Dollar is equal to 55 Zimbabwe dollars.

But the State-controlled Herald newspaper Wednesday quoted an unnamed source at the ZBC as saying: “It is not all about money. Live productions can be tricky and dangerous. The setting on the NDA production was professionally done but maybe the programme should not have been broadcast live. You do not know what someone will come and say and there is no way of controlling it.”

Added the source: “Granting a civic organisation a one-hour production on the basis that it can afford to buy the airtime, would have set a precedence in that all other organisations, that could afford, would have to be accorded the same.”

Munyaradzi Hwengwere of the president’s office confirmed the ban saying they had to take that decision as the professional integrity of the ZBC was at stake.

But the opposition MDC has rapped the banning of the programme saying it reflects the desperation by the ruling party to cling onto power by whatever means necessary.

“Unfortunately the ruling party cannot withstand democratic debate on how this country should move forward,” says Learnmore Jongwe, secretary for information and publicity of the MDC.

“What they want is a monopoly on the public media so that they can hurl insults at civic organisations, members of the official and loyal opposition and the general citizenry,” he adds.

“The party has now reached such an advanced state of paranoia that they are now constantly running away from their own shadows,” says Jongwe.

This is not the first time the state-controlled broadcaster has lost millions of dollars in potential revenue.

Last year, the National Constitutional Assembly had to do much of its campaign by word of mouth and posters as the ZBC refused to air the organisation’s programmes and campaigns on national radio and television.

The government’s virtual monopoly of broadcast media has allowed it to censor information especially news about the opposition party.

Although there has been talk of opening up the airwaves, no private broadcaster has been licensed.

Zimbabwe holds its presidential elections next year and political analysts say the government would want to maintain its monopoly on broadcasting.

Since independence in 1980, there has been no private broadcasting station in the country, and Zimbabweans have relied on a state-run media for information.

Last October, two independent radio stations, Capital Radio and FM-100 hit the airwaves before armed police, swooped down on Capital Radio and seized its equipment accusing them of being a pirate’ station.

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