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AN ANALYSIS OF SELECTED EDITORIAL CARTOONS PUBLISHED DURING ZIMBABWE’S 2008 ELECTIONS Knowledge Mushohwe Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for Degree Magister Technologiae Graphic Design Faculty of Arts Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Supervisors: I. Economou Dr. H. Hattingh November 2011 Declaration I, Knowledge Mushohwe (Student number: s209080466), hereby declare that the dissertation for MTech, Graphic Design is my own work and that it has not previously been submitted for assessment or completion of any postgraduate qualification to another University or for another qualification. Knowledge Mushohwe i Acknowledgments I thank God for making everything possible. Thank you to Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University for the opportunity to further my studies in a conducive and resourceful learning environment. My supervisors, Inge Economou and Heidi Hattingh, I am grateful for your insights and all the time you sacrificed during the course. Thank you to Anthony Sparg, the language editor. I thank the Faculty of Arts, and my gratitude extends to members of the postgraduate forum, whose input shaped several sections of this study. I am grateful to my family for their support and understanding. Thank you, too, to my former editors – Francis Mdlongwa of the Financial Gazette, and Pikirayi Deketeke of the Herald – for shaping both my career as a cartoonist and my study on Zimbabwean subjects. I wish also to extend my gratitude to my research assistant, Justin Mutenda, for his efforts. ii Dedication The study is dedicated to the memory of my father, Nevson Torai Mushohwe, and my late sister, Sally. iii Abstract During Zimbabwe’s 2008 harmonised elections the country’s media laws had a direct impact on the way editorial cartoonists expressed themselves. Although the online newspapers were unregulated and the print media published under Zimbabwe’s media laws, Public Order and Security Act and Access to Information and Protection of Privacy act - the editorial cartoons from both sources show deliberate bias towards one candidate and contempt towards the main rival. The study contextualises the understanding of the editorial cartoon, as practised in an environment of freedom of speech and defined by the four categories identified by Press (1981) and Manning and Phiddian (2004), and delineates the effect of media laws on the newspaper industry in Zimbabwe. The four categories of editorial cartoons identified are descriptive editorial cartoons, laughing satirical editorial cartoons, destructive satirical editorial cartoons, and savage indignation editorial cartoons. The study reviews eight editorial cartoons, read using a semiotic framework investigating non-verbal communication, as defined and suggested by Du Plooy (1996), and a text and language grid, as suggested by Leech (1974), according to the criteria of symbols/metaphors, exaggeration/distortion, stereotypes, caricature, irony, captions, and background knowledge, as developed by Fetsko (2001). A comparative analysis of the cartoons reveals that objectives and functions of the unregulated zimonline.co.za and the regulated the Herald newspapers are the same. They constitute propagandistic representations of Zimbabwean politics that are more an extension of political ideology than they are a reflection of the country’s sociopolitical landscape. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 3 1.3 Significance of the study 4 1.4 Delimitation 5 1.5 Chapter division 6 Endnotes 8 CHAPTER 2: CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND 2.1 Introduction 9 2.2 The post-independence media in Zimbabwe 9 2.3 Independent newspapers in Zimbabwe 10 2.4 Zimbabwean online newspapers 18 2.5 Chapter synthesis 20 Endnotes 21 CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 3.1 Introduction 22 3.2 What is an editorial cartoon? 23 3.3 Categorisation of the editorial cartoon 24 3.4 The state of world press freedom 28 3.5 Editorial cartoons and censorship 31 3.6 The general role of editorial cartoons 39 3.7 Chapter synthesis 42 Endnotes 43 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY 4.1 Introduction 44 4.2 Research design 45 4.3 Data collection 45 3.4 Data analysis: Introduction to semiotics 48 4.5 Key concepts and terminology used in semiotic image analysis 51 4.6 Editorial cartoons and signs 56 4.7 Semiotic models for visual analysis 58 4.7.1 Signs 59 4.7.2 Interpersonal communication 59 4.7.3 Codes of content 60 4.7.4 Codes of form 61 4.7.5 Field forces 62 4.8 Language and meaning 66 4.9 Analysis criteria 66 4.10 Chapter synthesis 69 Endnotes 70 CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS 5.1 Introduction 71 v 5.2 The analysis of editorial cartoons depicting Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai during the 2008 election period in Zimbabwe 72 5.2.1 The editorial cartoon coded A1i 72 5.2.2 The editorial cartoon coded A1ii 74 5.2.3 The editorial cartoon coded A2i 77 5.2.4 The editorial cartoon coded A2ii 81 5.2.5 The editorial cartoon coded B1i 85 5.2.6 The editorial cartoon coded B1ii 88 5.2.7 The editorial cartoon coded B2i 92 5.2.8 The editorial cartoon coded B2ii 96 5.3 Findings 99 5.3.1 The function of editorial cartoons in the Zimbabwean context 100 5.3.2 The effect of media regulations on depictions of President Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai in editorial cartoons during Zimbabwe’s 2008 harmonised general elections 102 5.4 Conclusion 105 Endnotes 108 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION 6.1 Summary of the preceding chapters 109 6.2 Recent developments in Zimbabwe 113 6.3 Implications of the GNU on the print media in Zimbabwe 114 6.4 Further recommendations 115 6.5 Further research 116 Reference list 117 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: MDC cartoon advert in the Daily News (Daily News, 2003) 17 Figure 4.1: Peirce’s elements of meaning 50 Figure 4.2: Saussure’s elements of meaning 51 Figure 4.3: Barthes’ two orders of signification 53 Figure 5.1: An online editorial cartoon 72 Figure 5.2: An online editorial cartoon 74 Figure 5.3: An editorial cartoon from a conventional newspaper 77 Figure 5.4: An editorial cartoon from a conventional newspaper 81 Figure 5.5: An online editorial cartoon 85 Figure 5.6: An online editorial cartoon 88 Figure 5.7: An editorial cartoon from a conventional newspaper 92 Figure 5.8: An editorial cartoon from a conventional newspaper 96 LIST OF TABLES Table 4.4: The modified semiotic grid for editorial cartoon analysis 64 Table 4.5: The semiotic grid for text and language analysis 66 ABBREVIATIONS (PF) ZAPU (Patriotic Front) Zimbabwe African People’s Party AIDS Acute Immune Deficiency Syndrome AIPPA Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act vi AMH Alpha Media Holdings AMI Africa Media Investments BBC British Broadcasting Cooperation CNG Community Newspapers Group CNN Cable News Network DRC Democratic Republic of Congo ESAP Economic Structural Adjustment Programme G8 Group of Eight (Most industrilised countries) GNU Government of National Unity GPA Global Political Agreement MDC Movement for Democratic Change MDC-T Movement for Democratic Change - Tsvangirai MIC Media and Information Commission NGO Non-Governmental Organisation POSA Public Order and Security Act SADC Southern African Development Community UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ZAMPS Zimbabwe Advertising and Marketing Products Survey ZANU (PF) Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front) ZEC Zimbabwe Electoral Commission ZMC Zimbabwe Media Commission ZRP Zimbabwe Republic Police vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction On 29 March 2008, Zimbabweans went to the polls in what was termed “harmonised general elections”1 to elect, among others, the country’s President. Not only was the election the biggest in the country’s history, it was also the first poll in the country to be held under strict guidelines ratified by the Southern African regional body, the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The implementation of the guidelines resulted in opposition political parties gaining as much access to the electorate and the media as the ruling party for the first time since independence. As a result, Zimbabwean opposition parties were able to run their advertisements in all of the state media and were also allowed media airtime on radio and television to explain their vision for the nation. These events made for a closely contested poll. The strength of Morgan Tsvangirai’s opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and the deteriorating standard of living in Zimbabwe, blamed by some on government policies and corruption, and by others on economic sabotage, created two distinct camps. The presence of two arguably evenly matched political parties inevitably and understandably polarised the country into two camps – one camp supporting the ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front), or ZANU (PF), led by incumbent President Robert Mugabe, and the other camp sympathetic to the MDC. This polarisation that affected the socio-economic sphere of the country did not spare the country’s print media. The Zimbabwean newspaper landscape was in a peculiar state in 1 2008. Six years earlier, the country’s authorities had introduced two media laws that had far-reaching effects on the country’s independent media. The laws, the Public Order and Security Act 2002 [Chapter 11:17] (POSA), and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act 2002 [Chapter 10:27] (AIPPA) were in 2003 and 2004 directly and indirectly involved in the closure of the main independent newspaper at the time, The Daily News, and a few others. The vacuum left by the small but vibrant daily independent newspapers was gradually filled by a strong online presence of Zimbabwean independent newspapers based outside the country. Zimbabwean media laws applied only to publications within the country; the online newspapers were therefore free from legislation. The Zimbabwean daily media in 2008 were composed only of a dominant, regulated state-owned print media, on one side, and a cluster of unregulated independent online newspapers, on the other side.

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