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Gutu North by-election results
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2004-05
Monday February 2nd - Sunday February 8th 2004

The ruling ZANU PF victory over the opposition MDC in the just ended Gutu North by-election received different interpretations in the media. The private media queried the conditions under which the elections were held, while the government-controlled media, just like they have handled previous elections, simply welcomed the outcome without reservation.

For example, ZTV & Power FM (06/02, 8pm) interpreted the outcome to mean "ZANU PF has managed to maintain its rural areas grip while MDC is losing its grip on urban areas". They then quoted a ZANU PF advocate, Augustine Timbe, as saying the results showed that, "Zimbabweans have now realized that the opposition has no proper policies to offer the country." Similarly, The Herald (5/2 & 6/2), Chronicle (6/2), The Manica Post

(6/2) and The Sunday News (8/2) narrowly viewed Josiah Tungamirai's win over the MDC's Crispa Musoni as a sign that ZANU PF was consolidating its position against the MDC.

However, the private media disputed this notion. For instance, during the first day of voting The Daily News (2/2) already dismissed fair play in the poll when it reported MDC's director of elections Remus Makuwaza alleging government plans to rig the Gutu North by-election. Makuwaza claimed that about 7 000 registered voters in Harare constituencies had also been registered in Gutu North and several names and addresses on the voters' roll had been interchanged "causing thousands of people to be turned away".

He said the situation was worsened by the refusal of the Registrar General's (RG) Office to release a consolidated voters' roll after inspection period, prior to election. SW Radio Africa (2/2) and Studio 7 (3/2) carried similar allegations. More reports of electoral irregularities in Gutu North were carried by SW Radio Africa (3/2) and The Daily Mirror (3/2).

The Zimbabwe Independent story (6/2), Traditional leaders win ZANU PF Gutu North, further belied government media's claims that ZANU PF's victory was due to its popularity. The story exposed how ZANU PF used traditional leaders to coerce and intimidate the electorate to vote for the party. An unnamed farmer was quoted saying a ZANU PF victory "was a foregone conclusion" because "ZANU PF's machinery had effectively penetrated all structures". To corroborate this perspective the paper also quoted the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) expressing concern over the "role of village heads in the election".

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