/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/MEDIA-ZIMBABWE: Cartoons Play a Major Role in Elections

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Hilary K. Siyachitema

HARARE, Feb 19 2002 (IPS) - Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, clad in a waiter’s garb, is portrayed serving tea to British Premier, Tony Blair in an advertisement put out by the ruling party in the local papers.

The advertisement implies that Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) – and former trade unionist – will serve British interests, if elected on Mar 9-10.

Cartoons are increasingly being used as campaign tools in Zimbabwe – a former British colony – as presidential elections draw closer.

The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) advertisement shows Tsvangirai serving tea to Blair on a tray. The China cup, which Tsvangirai is holding, contains an imposing map of Zimbabwe on which the word ‘land’ is clearly printed.

In the advertisement, Tsvangirai asks Blair: “Is this what you would want to have on March 9 and 10?” referring to claims that, once elected, Tsvangirai would hand back the land — being redistributed to land-less blacks — to white settlers in Zimbabwe.

Blair replies, “Yes, yes my boy Morgan”.

This is the most frequently used advertisement in ‘The Herald’, a state-controlled newspaper. The advertisement takes a full page of the newspaper and in some instances more.

On its part, Zimbabwe’s independent newspaper, ‘The Daily News’, shows exaggerated cartoons of the minister of information Jonathan Moyo. The cartoons show a larger-than-life version of Moyo’s head. These appear on the entertainment section of the paper and are not part of the oppositions’ commercials.

The ruling party advertises more in the form of cartoons than the MDC. In some editions of ‘The Herald’, up to eight-page supplements, carrying various political campaign sketches, are included.

It costs 240,000 Zimbabwe dollars (4,300 U.S dollars) to advertise in ‘The Herald’ and 113,000 Zimbabwe dollars (2,055 U.S. dollars) in ‘The Daily News’.

Some Zimbabweans see the cartoons, which started appearing in the papers in January, as a lighter way of looking at political campaigning that began in a tense atmosphere.

“It is good to have a laugh especially in this period of political difficulties and economic hardships,” says Barbara Beseni of Chitungwiza, a satellite city of Harare.

Other Zimbabweans do not appreciate the cartoons or see the humour in the pictures and feel that political parties should pursue other important national issues.

“I don’t see how they expect people to change their views based on those cartoons,” says Tonderai Kapachawo, a resident of Harare, visibly irritated. “We will only vote for a leader who we think is the best candidate.”

MDC spokesperson, Learnmore Jongwe says the issues raised by ZANU-PF in the cartoons do not have any relevance to the people of Zimbabwe. Such campaigning, he said, would never influence the way people vote.

“Zimbabweans are worried about the economy, HIV/AIDS, and the need for compassion from the government and anything not addressing these issues in the cartoons has no relevance to the people,” Jongwe says.

“Political cartoons are as old as politics itself and can sometimes convey a message effectively or distort it, depending on how they are used,” says Mwesiga Baregu, a political commentator in Harare.

Other cartoons that have appeared in ‘The Herald’ include one that shows Tsvangirai as a puppet whose strings are being pulled from every direction by the United Kingdom, United States, European Union (EU), and non-governmental organisations. The message on the advertisement reads: “If Tsvangirai wins, God forbid, who will really be running Zimbabwe.”

Similar message illustrated in a cartoon depicts Tsvangirai being remote controlled by Blair from Number 10 Downing Street, the office of the British Prime minister, in London. The cartoon, published in ‘The Herald’, was not part of the ZANU-PF sponsored advertisement.

Television and radio adverts, T-shirts and posters are other methods used to convey campaign messages to the voters.