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Stephen Mpofu
Corruption, in whatever form or of whatever magnitude, should be denounced and fought by all patriots as the antithesis of Zimbabwe’s continuing revolution and as a threat to economic collapse if allowed to gain dominion over society. As such, anyone, in whatever social station, who appears to scapegoat for or vacillate in the blitzkrieg against this cancer should be admonished.

But thank God, the Zimbabwean media have vindicated their watchdog role, albeit belatedly, by exposing rampant anti-social acts in parastatals and other quasi-State institutions.

For that reason scribes who have identified themselves through their bold journalese as frontline soldiers in the fight against corruption deserve showers of accolades and not the plastic brickbats that some have hurled at them but at which they and others, right-thinking Zimbabweans have thumbed their noses.

As watchdogs of society the writers must fight on with unflinching intrepidity as the eyes and ears of our President since he, like any other ruler, is not omnipresent or omniscient like God, even though some sections of the media might out of mischief-making or at the behest of their foreign bank-rollers use corruption as political witchcraft against the Government for not stamping out the vice.
Journalists often tout themselves as noble professionals whose work testifies to their love of the motherland.

But true, patriotic love of one’s country does not strut around in designer suits, wear gloves and shake dirty hands and look the other way while our country is destroyed by greed.

True love dons a work-suit, wields a stiff brush to scrape the filth encrusted in the crevices of society.
Contextually, that is exactly what the patriotic sections of the Zimbabwean media have been doing of late.  Therefore, anyone, simpleton or wig, who disparages this good work cannot, and should not, lay claim to any valid patriotism.

As the Fourth Estate, journalism must necessarily perform a transformative role in society by educating and informing the populace without fear or favour, the latter suggesting that stories published should be based on facts dressed up in truth, in order to liberate people from ignorance on which the unscrupulous among them pounce for their own personal aggrandisement.

Journalism is defined as an Art, a Science and a Humanity; the last term suggesting that scribes deal with human activities.
As a Science, journalism must eschew fiction in favour of truth that can be validated through scientific research, while the artistic role of journalism refers to the aesthetic nature in which reports must be couched to entertain the reader.

Thus, journalism plays such an important role that the work of the executive, the judiciary and the legislature might remain clouded in obscurity without the men and women who work day and night diffusing information about what goes on in the country as well as in a world reduced to a global village through information technology.

Yet these noble professionals are often subjected to both love and hate, the latter by people who wish to have their machinations kept under wraps.

The success of this country’s revolution as enshrined in the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation will depend to a significant extent on the supportive role of the media.

The onus remains on both journalists and other Zimbabweans with a passionate love of the country to expose the enemy within and without even though, for the former, they might risk damnation by publishing the truth for the good and security of our beloved country.

But have the media actually zeroed in on the real iceberg of the corruption it has been writing about, or has it merely been scratching the tip of the real problem pulsating and waiting to explode in our face and scuttle all social and economic initiatives aimed at giving Zimbabwe a bold, new future?

In summing up this discourse, this pen would like to suggest that a passionate love of Zimbabwe that politicians and non-politicians often proclaim in public should vindicate itself by motivating every Zimbabwean to a positive, triumphant, and patriotic living.