THE Zanu PF jingles on television and radio are not helping the party but rather are alienating it from the public, a recent study into television claims.

Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) radio and television have been airing pro-Zanu PF jingles for almost a decade now, much to the annoyance of other political players who always cry foul, claiming this made the electoral field uneven.

But a study by University of Zimbabwe lecturer Nyasha Mboti claims that this strategy has not only failed to work but has hardened attitudes against the party.

In his thesis titled “Visual forensics – an investigation of the function of the gaze in Hollywood films about Africa and selected Television texts”, he argues that the idea was to swamp the consciousness of audience with liberation themes but this had so far failed.

Mboti, who graduated with a doctorate from the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) last week, claims that ZBC’s strategy is based on repetition in the hope that this will get the audience to support the constant themes on TV, but this had failed spectacularly.

“Repetition on ZTV, in the context of the heavily polarised Zimbabwean setting, has the ironic effect of appearing to be cynical, one-sided and biased,” he argues.

Mboti further states that this one-sidedness heightens the sense of national division and hardens attitudes, when the aim may have been to soften them.

Zanu PF has over the last decade produced a number of jingles that have drawn the ire of the MDC. The most recent set was produced by the Mbare Chimurenga Choir, with the main song being Nyatsoterera, literally meaning people should listen and hear who is in power.

A number of jingles have been produced especially during Jonathan Moyo’s (pictured) tenure as information minister. The most popular was arguably Rambai makashinga which advised the country to be strong in the face of adversity.

Despite MDC protestation, Zanu PF and ZBC have stubbornly refused to stop playing these jingles, which observers describe as partisan and against the spirit of unity, born out of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

Mboti goes on to describe the jingles and their constant repetition as poorly developed and resulting in a badly systematised propaganda campaign.

“For instance, ZTV appears to have one persuasive device for use throughout the years from 2000 to 2008: repetition,” he says. “While repetition may work in certain contexts in others it fails.”
Mboti partly blames the failure of the so called Third Chimurenga to ZBC and Zanu PF’s heightened propaganda drive.

“One reason for the failure of the Third Chimurenga would be the nature of ZTV’s techniques for persuasion,” he said adding that they were poor and thus alienating the audience.

He observed that the jingles have usually coincided with periods when there was political flux and heightened violence, with their function being to manufacture consent.

“The emphasis is on consent,” he said noting that oppressive regimes maintain power through a combination of consent and coercion. “Because systems of power cannot be maintained by force alone, people have to be persuaded and be made to do certain things willingly and happily.”

The university lecturer further described as ideological myopia ZBC’s idea that since Zanu PF has the dominant voice and its ideology is seen to be the only correct position, other ideologies are counterfeit.

In his thesis, Mboti also studies programming like Talking Farming and National Ethos and concludes that these are harmful rather than beneficial to Zanu PF.

By The Standard