Political corruption in Zimbabwe: News media, audiences and deliberative democracy

Abstract

Even though corruption by politicians and in politics is widespread worldwide, it is more pronounced in developing countries, such as Zimbabwe, where members of the political elite overtly abuse power for personal accumulation of wealth. Ideally, the news media, as watchdogs, are expected to investigate and report such abuses of power. However, previous studies in Zimbabwe highlight the news media’s polarised and normative inefficacies. Informed by the theoretical notion of deliberative democracy developed via Habermas and Dahlgren’s work and Hall’s Encoding, Decoding Model, this article uses qualitative content analysis to examine how online readers of Zimbabwe’s two leading daily publications, The Herald and NewsDay, interpreted and evaluated allegations of corruption leveled against ministers and deputy ministers during the height of factionalism in the ruling party (ZANU PF). The article argues that interaction between mainstream media and their audiences online shows the latter’s resourcefulness and, at least, discursive agency in their engagement with narratives about political corruption, itself an imperative premise for future political action.

Influencia de las redes sociales en la democracia latinoamericana

“…Para otros autores, la democracia deliberativa enfatiza en la discusión de la ciudadanía, y la democracia digital, en este caso, posibilita los espacios para la discusión a través de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC), ya que este tipo de democracia hace que a partir del debate entre ciudadanos se alimente la democracia de las sociedades democráticas o democratizadoras (Ndhlovu & Santos, 2021). En este sentido, como señala Ford (2019): «Se entiende por democracia digital o e-democracy poner internet y la tecnología al servicio de la ciudadanía, para que contribuyan a la consolidación del sistema democrático» (p. 39).…”

Performance Arts in Zimbabwe: Setting the Agenda for Peace and Development

“…This included but was not limited to violent and ad hoc land seizures, urban clearances of 2005 (popularly known as Operation Murambatsvina-clear the filth), organised violence, price controls, printing money and attacks on the leaders of world powers (Moss, 2007, p. 141). Ndhlovu and Santos (2022) added that members of the political elite abused power for personal accumulation of wealth. This was further supported by journalist Hopewell Chin’ono when he said, ‘This country even with the looting that they are doing, if they were doing the right things for our country, they would still loot and we would still have a better life…’ (In Conversation with Trevor, 2020).…”

Mediating a regime in crisis: corruption and succession in Zimbabwe’s state media

“…A number of studies have examined the media’s role in exposing corruption in Zimbabwe. The latest research by Ndhlovu and Santos (2021) examines audience reception of corruption stories while Makombe (2018) investigated media framing of corruption stories around the ZIMDEF scandal. In this milieu, our study goes beyond media framing and shows how an alleged case of corruption was turned into a power scandal, a field which is largely underdeveloped in Zimbabwe and Africa at large.…”