adminmyself,” he is quoted as saying.
It is surprising that he is making this admission only at the close of his term of office. For the past three years he appears to have enjoyed that negative portrayal and has not publicly rebuked his countrymen and women for what he has always known not to be true.
Instead his government appears to have encouraged that kind of media onslaught on Zimbabwe and used the images to push its anti-Zimbabwe agenda at international forums such as the United Nations. It took the honesty of countries like China and Russia to block stiffer UN Security Council action against Zimbabwe.
That case, like many others, had been built and supported by negative media reportage, which did not appear to have been challenged by correct information from Ambassador Ray’s office.
The WikiLeaks revelations bear testimony to the American government’s appetite for such information. The cables show that the American embassy is itself a purveyor of half-baked information, which is used by Washington to form an opinion of events in Zimbabwe.
Even locally the Western embassies are known to be very active in influencing the headlines of some of the private newspapers to achieve their desired end.
The negative media reports, coupled with the economic sanctions, have been sapping the energy of Zimbabwe. That Zimbabwe is still on its feet is testimony of the resilience of its people and leaders.
When Mr Ray made his admission it was in the context of the tourism industry. Negative publicity by Western media organisations, mostly American and British, has been keeping tourists away from Zimbabwe despite Zimbabwe having excellent products such as the Victoria Falls and a peaceful environment for tourists to enjoy them.
Apart from the media coverage, the American government has from time to time issued advisory notes to its citizens not to visit Zimbabwe claiming it is not safe. Almost every time such notes have been issued we have wondered what really was happening in Zimbabwe that could put American tourists at risk.
Some investors have also found it difficult to think about investing in Zimbabwe. It is only the brave ones that decided to come and see for themselves that eventually did business with Zimbabwe.
The whole war between Zimbabwe and the Western powers in the last decade has been anchored on the West’s ability to unleash mass deception. Everything about what started as a bilateral dispute between Zimbabwe and its former coloniser, Britain, has been a media war. Media events have been stage-managed to paint Zimbabwe with a dark brush, whilst the likes of Mr Ray rubbed their hands with glee.
We therefore find it strange that the ambassador is calling on the media to report the truth about Zimbabwe as if his government can accept the truth when it works against its economic interests. Had he been an advocate of the truth from day one when he arrived in June 2009, Zimbabwe would be enjoying better relations with the United States.
He makes a startling admission: “I must testify that when I alighted from the plane at Harare International Airport the very first time I came here, I was surprised to see the opposite of what I had known. I met very good people, very happy people and Zimbabwe is very beautiful and attractive.”
But is this what is communicated in his cables to Washington?
This is not to suggest that he should have embraced Zimbabwe’s politics and not criticised what was happening here. The revolutionary programmes of Zanu-PF have been hard to swallow for Western governments who prefer to hold onto the economic levers of the country.
It was unavoidable for them to be brutal in their criticism of Zimbabwe and in defence of their economic interests. But their criticism of the Zimbabwean Government’s policies could still have been strong without having to deliberately paint a false picture of Zimbabwe and its leadership.
But again to expect them to behave differently would have been naivety on our part. Mass deception is an art the Americans have perfected wherever they are involved in a conflict and Zimbabwe is only one of many other countries that have been victims of this strategy.
Whilst we appreciate the positive statement from the American ambassador, it dismally fails the sincerity test. We expect him to soon be singing a different tune and acting differently from what he said in Victoria Falls. We also do not expect anything different from his successor, Mr David Bruce Wharton, who has previously served in Zimbabwe as the US head of Public Affairs.
We draw confidence from the experience of those international visitors, some of them Americans, who were in Victoria Falls for the 37th Annual Africa Travel Association Congress. We believe they got to see the truth about Zimbabwe for themselves and will be faithful ambassadors of what we are trying to achieve ahead of the United Nations World Tourism Association summit next year.
Online Reporter