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What I want to know is - is the use of anonymized sources
and interviewees being overused? Is it being used to give a
supervicial credibility to news stories that don't have much
going for them? The Zimbabwean government isn't the maffia.
Let's face it - Hilary Anderson is a BBC reporter - an organisation
supposedly banned from Zimbabwe.

BBC documentary on national youth service ridiculous, unethical


By Donald T. Charumbira
The recently released BBC documentary on Zimbabwe´s National Youth Service
programme is a ridiculous, unethical and immoral work of journalism that borders
on criminal defamation of the Government and country.

The widely disseminated documentary deserves condemnation of the highest
order, and possible retribution from the BBC for its shameful propagation of
glaring lies, inaccuracies and fallacies. The abominable documentary made headlines
worldwide and has resulted in untold damage to the image and reputation of
the country.

Panorama: Secrets of the Camps was broadcast on BBC One on Sunday February 29
2004 at 2215 GMT.

Authored by BBC´s Africa correspondent, Hilary Andersson, the mischievous
document labelled the National Youth Service "Zimbabwe´s torture training camps".


"President Robert Mugabe´s Government has set up secret camps across the
country in which thousands of youths are taught how to torture and kill," the BBC
alleged.

Throughout the odious documentary, no reference is made to the fact that the
programme is actually called National Youth Service, and that it is
administered by the Ministry of Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation. This
was an attempt by the BBC to portray the camps as paramilitary establishments.


The National Youth Service camps are no secret. It is public information
where these camps are located, and during every passout parade, the general public
and media visit them to celebrate graduation of their children, friends and
family.

These camps have no ounce of tuition on torture or killing, but rather serve
to instil patriotism, discipline and a sense of national pride and community
service in the youths of Zimbabwe.

National Youth Service graduates are in high demand on the job market, being
the first choice for employment in various civil service, private sector,
non-governmental organisation and international jobs.

Zimbabwe is actually one of the few countries that have successfully
implemented NYS, and is a model for other developing nations, even though the
programme is still in its early years.

The rogue media empire claims to have interviewed dozens of youths, and
reveals some purported interviews with NYS graduates.

One girl, introduced as Debbie, claims to have been kidnapped and forced into
a camp where she was allegedly raped on her first night. Anyone with any
semblance of knowledge about the workings of National Youth Service in Zimbabwe
would know that this is glaring fiction.

Young people all over the country actually compete to enter the shortlist for
National Youth Service. There are not enough places for all high school
graduates, so there is actually a competition amongst youths in their respective
districts and provinces to enter the programme.

So for a girl to claim that she was kidnapped is ludicrous, as there is a
formal, competitive selection process, and for her to say she was raped is a
criminal falsehood. No such behaviour is tolerated at NYS camps, and any such
activity would result in dismissal and prosecution of the perpetrators.

This same Debbie claims that she used to share a blanket with an 11-year-old
girl who was also raped night after night. Again, only the ignorant would
accept such an allegation.

For one to undergo national service, the completion of at least O-level
education is compulsory, which is a minimum of 16 years of age. So how could an
11-year-old girl be in a National Youth Service camp?

Among the other perverse allegations in the documentary, the BBC says that
youths are taught how to torture people. They alleged that the youths are given
alcohol and drugs before learning to electrocute people.

In a fraudulent interview, ostensibly during a BBC covert filming in
Zimbabwe, the documentary interviews a "camp commander" who claimed that youths in his
camp were sent on missions to do political killings.

By the time the documentary was picked up by international news agencies, the
headline plunged deeper into delusion.

The news, as released by Sapa-AP, opened the story by claiming "Zimbabwe´s
ruling party is training children as young as 12 to torture and kill its
political opponents, the British Broadcasting Corp reported Sunday."

Clearly, these misguided journalists are plagued with ignorance and malice
for publishing such concoctions.

What shall we do now, when endangered by these Weapons of Mass Deception? The
BBC has, in essence, declared war on Zimbabwe and its Government, and is
committed to utilising its WMDs to the fullest extent possible.

We must start to make these journalists and broadcasters accountable for
their actions. They are placed in a position of trust, where they can contribute
positively to human development, yet they abuse the trust of their audiences by
distributing falsity.

In doing this, they destroy not only human lives, but nations and
civilisations. No television viewer would like to be lied to, yet this is the life-blood
of the BBC: deceptions, falsities, myths and concoctions.

What authority does the BBC have on issues of morality, ethics and good
governance when the corporation wades in immorality, debauchery and corruption?

How can the BBC accuse us of torture and rape, when it is the greatest
torturer of our people, with its painfully false and defamatory documentaries; and
the greatest rapist which strips us of our dignity and integrity, imposing its
heavy and false dogma on us?

Let us counter these Weapons of Mass Deception with the sword of the truth,
disseminating the truth to the world, and sowing seeds of verity where the
international media have planted hogwash.

Let us also remain resolute and steadfast as a nation, defiant to all forms
of Western attempts at sabotaging our progress and peace, moving forward ever
towards national development in the face of this aggression.

Let all of us, in our own small ways, defend our nation from the perjury and
deceptions of the neo-imperialist media! BB