And words are all we have…

I wasn’t there that afternoon in the office of Zimbabwe’s director of information, Justin Nyoka, in Linquenda House in Harare, as he foamed at the mouth about me.

But the scene was recounted in laconic detail to me later by my then bureau chief, Robin Drew.

Justin, he said (we all called him Justin because, like me, he was once a journalist on The Herald newspaper), wanted to deport me for my reporting on what would later be called the Gukaruhundi genocide in Matabeleland.

I was working for the then Argus newspaper group in South Africa and I and Andre Viljoen of SA Associated Newspapers (which published the Rand Daily Mail) were the only ones at that stage covering what was happening as the bodies piled up.

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I was young and gung ho in those days; most of my thoughts on my new romance.

It was only years later that I realised the import of what was going on and the profound impact it would have, not only on the history of Zimbabwe, but of southern Africa as a whole.

When Justin realised that he couldn’t deport me because I was born there, he shrieked at Robin: “Then he is an enemy of the state!”

I was withdrawn from Matabeleland and sent to cover innocuous stories on conservation and the like for the next few months, until a transfer opportunity came up – to the bureau in Windhoek, Namibia – and I grabbed it with both hands, never mind the tremendous upheaval it would cause to both my professional and personal life.

I think that “enemy of the state” declaration – it was an official label – is still buried in some filing cabinet in a government office in Harare.

I would be lying if I said my career as a journalist has been motivated by the high-flown ideals of service to society or the pursuit of truth.

It was, and still is, the best thing you can do with your clothes on.

Our late and sadly missed news editor, Amanda Watson, said to me once: “Don’t tell the bosses but I would do this job for free…”

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In all the adrenalin rushes, I have been arrested, beaten up, shot at, threatened multiple times by demonstrators, soldiers, cops and lawyers, never mind being accused of working for just about every intelligence service on the planet.

In the process, the truth did emerge, imperfect though it may have been at times.

That first draft of history will help historians one day understand the story of southern Africa in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

That is why it saddens and angers me to see everyone, from the right to the left and every crackpot conspiracy theorist in between, lashing out at the “MSM” (mainstream media) for allegedly being part of some sinister plot to spread disinformation in the service of those who control the world.

As people get their “truth” from the increasingly lunatic and warped (by artificial intelligence and fake news manipulators) world of social media, the amount of disinformation and lies spreads exponentially.

Tomorrow is World News Day and time to pause and think about the media you consume and which you believe.

“Choose Truth” is the rallying cry of the day and promoted, horror or horrors, by the MSM.

At least we still have some professionalism and a commitment to the truth, our abject failures to honour that commitment notwithstanding.

We’re not perfect but the alternative is ghastly to contemplate. As megalomaniacs spew their bile via social media, you’ll miss us when we’re gone.

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