adminWe note that the problem with Mr Tsvangirai is his tendency to speak without really applying his mind.
His other main problem is that he just goes along with the wind.
His threats are not new after some know-it-all non-governmental organisations aligned to his party have been uttering similar misguided sentiments.
We are surprised that Mr Tsvangirai takes such beerhall talk seriously and, as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, tries to turn it into a national issue.
If it was not for his rather challenged worldview, Mr Tsvangirai must have known better how the media operates.
Here is a man who has been all along presenting himself as an advocate of free media, yet he wants the same media to be submissive to him.
According to his views, the media is only said to be free and fair if it writes positively about him and his party.
Mr Tsvangirai is telling the media to leave his soiled sex life alone, leave his puppetry politics alone, leave the intra-party violence rocking his party alone and turn a blind eye to the corruption his party has wrought on local authorities.
What makes his threats more abominable is that he aired them while launching his party’s so-called national policy conference in Harare over the weekend.
We are left with no doubt that throttling the media is now a major part of Mr Tsvangirai’s policies.
As a man who purports to be a democrat, Mr Tsvangirai must at least understand that no leader is immune to criticism.
If Mr Tsvangirai does not have anything to hide, why is it that he does not want the media to poke its nose into his affairs when he is a public figure?
It is obvious that the man, whom Zimbabweans have since exposed as a puppet for Western countries, has many skeletons in his wardrobe which he hopes to hide by threatening the media.
Mr Tsvangirai wants a “yes baas” media which paints him and his party as angels. He must by now know that such media exists only in utopia.
Yet the man has embroiled himself in so many scandals ranging from his messed sex life to corruption within his party which the media cannot turn a blind eye to.
It is really tragic for a person of Mr Tsvangirai’s calibre as the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe to try and coerce the media into turning him into a demi-god.
What makes Mr Tsvangirai’s utterances most unfortunate is that they are coming as the country totters towards harmonised elections constitutionally expected before or on June 29.
What Mr Tsvangirai is telling the media is that “write only positive things about me so that I can win the elections”.
Well, if Mr Tsvangirai wants a media that campaigns for him, he is free to apply for a licence with the Zimbabwe Media Commission to establish one for himself.
The MDC-T leader must simply stop holding the media in contempt by thinking that he can put all journalists in the country into his pocket.
By threatening the media, Mr Tsvangirai has shown that he has a loose tongue and that he has a propensity to rush to make uninformed conclusions.
What he said about the media which does not agree with his viewpoint is designed to cause despondency and foment hostilities towards journalists.
And his statement is premised on political expediency rather than fact and reason.
Zimbabweans expect Mr Tsvangirai to be mature enough not to make such reckless statements which are tantamount to gagging the media.
We totally reject his ambitions to establish a “hear no evil and see no evil” media in Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter