War vets defend jingles

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Written by Staff Reporter

Wednesday, 28 July 2010 10:11

HARARE - MDC-T were not part of the liberation struggle that brought about independence and should therefore not protest against Zanu (PF) propaganda jingles played on radio and television, said Zanu (PF) hardliners.
The jingles, which were personally handed over to radio and television DJs two weeks ago, have once again threatened to divide the fragile coalition government.
Nyasha Chikwinya, a war veteran, said: "There is nothing wrong with the jingles. The problem with our colleagues in the MDC is that they were not part of the liberation struggle. These jingles are part of our history," she said.
"We demand that these jingles continue to be played on national radio and television so that our children get an appreciation of who brought the country from the colonialists," said Phinias Makonya, a war veteran from Domboshava.
Recorded by a group called the Mbare Chimuremga Choir, the jingles reiterate that President Robert Mugabe and his two deputies, John Nkomo and Joyce Mujuru, are the ones running the country, not the coalition government.
MDC-T deputy spokesperson, Thabita Khumalo, said they were going to convene an urgent National executive council meeting to decide on their next move.
The coalition cabinet resolved last week that the advertisements should be taken off air following a protest by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. But the Media, Information and Publicity Permanent Secretary, George Charamba, claimed the cabinet instruction had not been communicated to the ZBC since his minister, Webster Shamu, was away.
ZBC chief executive, Happison Muchetetere, insisted the state-run broadcaster would not drop the adverts and invited the MDC-T to provide its own material for similar broadcast.
Khumalo said they had approached ZBC with their party adverts but were rejected for unspecified reasons.

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