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Lupane by-election
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2004-19
Monday May 10^th – Sunday May 16^th

The media, especially those from the government-controlled stable, failed once more to encourage transparency in the conduct of local elections as illustrated by their inability to demand unconditional accountability in the way the authorities prepared for and held the just ended Lupane by-election.

As a result, this compromised the fairness and quality of the news the electorate received, and indeed, the atmosphere under which the poll was held.

For example, all 11 stories the national broadcaster carried on the electoral process were handouts from the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) and merely echoed the commission’s sentiments on the poll without question.

Consequently, a thorough examination of the electoral process was ignored. The government media merely gave information on the number of registered voters, election monitors and the location and the total number of polling stations.

Even then, this crucial information was only made available to the electorate on the eve of the election.

The private media did not fare any better in the 13 reports they carried on the elections. These media largely quoted the MDC accusing ZANU PF of intimidating the electorate without corroborating the veracity of the claims.

Neither did they cover the election manifestos of the candidates for the electorate to make informed choices.

Typically, the government-controlled Press carried nine articles campaigning for ZANU PF’s candidate while ignoring the campaign activities of the opposition MDC and its candidate. In fact, the opposition and its candidate were either denigrated or blamed for causing violence in Lupane in the four articles in which they were mentioned.

ZBC followed a similar trend in the eight stories it dedicated to ZANU PF’s campaign activities. Only Studio 7 aired the activities of the MDC candidate on two occasions but featured none on the ZANU PF candidate.

But while reports in the government media were saturated by either the ESC’s one-sided assessments of the poll as generally free and fair or partisan reports on ZANU PF’s campaign trails, only the private media queried the environment in which the by-election was being held by raising concerns of alleged violence and intimidation against the MDC by ruling party supporters.

For example SW Radio Africa, which alone carried six stories on the matter, quoted several MDC officials complaining about various electoral irregularities during the poll.

MDC Secretary-General Welshman Ncube told the private radio station (10/5) that the level of intimidation in Lupane was "very high" and that local villagers had been threatened with "the return of the Gukurahundi should they not vote for ZANU-PF". MDC spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi (SW Radio Africa (14/5) echoed Ncube’s claims, adding that traditional leaders were also involved in the harassment of opposition supporters.

Studio 7 (15/5) cited three incidents where chiefs were said to have been moving around polling stations wearing ZANU-PF regalia and mobilizing people to vote.

The government media suffocated this apparent abuse of traditional chiefs by ZANU PF to win elections for them. For example, the Chronicle (13/5) merely reported Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo telling 600 Lupane "traditional leaders… that the government was committed to improving their welfare" during a campaign rally.

In fact, the Zimbabwe Independent (14/5) revealed that government had set aside an "unbudgeted $27,5 billion on chiefs’ vehicles and other perks". The paper viewed this as a "move calculated to win their support ahead of parliamentary elections currently scheduled for March."

However, the Council of Chiefs secretary-general Fortune Charumbira defended the move saying the scheme was similar to that for parliamentarians where government provided them with loans to buy vehicles.

The Chronicle (13/5) reported without question that chiefs from Silobela and Lower Gweru had "pledged to ensure that ZANU PF regains the two parliamentary seats in their areas it lost in 2000 after they were given a prominent role in the selection of candidates".

The government media were clearly unwilling to examine these unorthodox electoral campaign tactics and largely ignored the ruling party’s intimidation of the Lupane electorate.

And where they were obliged to admit to outbreaks of violence in the constituency, they vaguely referred to them as "clashes", (Radio Zimbabwe 13/5, 1pm) or "skirmishes" (Power FM 11/5, 8pm) to obscure the identity of the perpetrators and soften the ugly impact on the conduct of the poll.

Only where the MDC was accused of being responsible for the violence were these media specific (Power FM, 11/5, 8pm, 12/5, 1pm; the Chronicle, 12/5; and Radio Zimbabwe, 14/5, 1pm). No due care was made to balance or corroborate these accusations with independent sources.

For example, the Chronicle (12/5) reported that a ZANU PF supporter was "suddenly attacked" and allegedly axed by MDC’s "weapon wielding activists" while putting up campaign posters for the ruling party’s candidate. The paper claimed that the campaign had been "peaceful until (the) incident".

But contrary to this report by the Chronicle (and Radio Zimbabwe), The Tribune (14/5) quoted the MDC district information secretary David Nyathi giving more context to the circumstances leading to the violence.

He claimed MDC supporters had retaliated after ZANU PF supporters had attacked them while they were putting up their own campaign posters. Nyathi said the police had only arrested MDC activists, including the party’s polling agents. He said: "There is no justice for us. We cannot complain to the police because ZANU PF supporters will never be arrested."

Nyathi’s account found corroboration from reports in The Zimbabwe Independent and The Daily Mirror (13/5).
SW Radio Africa (13/5) reported a Lupane magistrate discharging 11 of the arrested MDC activists for lack of evidence.

The Standard (16/5) reported that the police had arrested two other MDC activists who claimed they had been kidnapped and tortured by war veterans but who the police accused of perpetrating violence against ZANU PF supporters.

The two were allegedly arrested when they went to report their ordeal to the police. However, no comment was sought from the police.

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