ZwNews Chief Correspondent
Once upon a time, Zimbabwe had an outspoken First Lady, who was later to be credited of causing the fall of her tyrant husband.
She wanted the press to highlight each good deed she would have done for ‘her people’ as she used to call Zimbabweans.
Grace Mugabe used to make news and headlines some of them bad, others good. She managed to ride in the limelight of her oratory husband’s popularity until she would stand the media limelight on her own.
She fell in love with the local media and became a celebrity like any other, and she was talkative too. She slowly waded into the politics of the day, to the extent of being in line to succeed her aged husband to the throne.
She was later credited for having had caused her husband’s downfall, using the press to say all sorts of things some of them good, others mere gossips and bad
That was the time then.
Zimbabwe now has another First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, soft spoken and unlike Grace, she is not talkative.
When her husband President Emmerson Mnangagwa came to power, he once warned her not to meddle in political matters at least she hasn’t done so, or at least for now should we say.
However, as for the love of the press, she is following Grace’s haunted trail, she is now either in love with the media, or it is the press which is in love with her?
The state media lenses have been following the first lady in most, if not all of her philanthropic works, with the public media all over her highlighting each and every step she makes. What a good and loving mother of the nation Zimbabwe has.
While, there is seemingly no private life for public figures, let alone a first lady, her love for the press have made her fit in the former first lady’s footprints.
Once described as down to earth, who do not like sounding a horn with each outing, Auxilia is changing.
That being the case, speaking about hygiene issues in parliament recently, Movement for Democratic Change Proportional Representative for Matabeleland South, Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga said the press should not lead current first lady into someone she may not be like; similar to the ones who stand on a hill and sound trumpet every time when she does something good for the country’s citizens.
She added that Auxillia is a soft, humble, and wonderful lady, as such being always in press is not good for her reputation.
“When the first lady decides that she is going to do charity work, let her do that work in silence. Putting her in the press each and every day could be harmful for her…
“She is not a poster-girl for Econet, neither is she for ministers. Leave the woman to do the work she wants to do quietly,” she said.
Be that as it may, some analysts believe that it is because of the fact that the state media is captured and can be arm twisted to cover every good move by those in power. One analyst had this to say; “If the state media do not paint those in power in good light, the staff risk being fired.
“Remember during the elections, any rally by the ruling party had outside broadcasting machinery fully deployed for the whole duration of the event, to promote the image of the capturers.”
A senior official at the state run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation told this publication that the state media is being commandeered to cover any event that seek to promote the image of the leaders, and to suppress anything that can paint the leaders imagine in bad light.
He said the matter is a very sensitive one, adding that one do not write what he or she wants, but dance according to the capturers’ tune.
“State media editorial is not independent as some might think. The news is not objectively reported, they rather want it subjective,” said the official who declined to be named for fear of being victimised.
