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ZBH Will Not Cover MDC Campaigns
MISA-Zimbabwe
January 24, 2005

In a move that vitiates against the SADC principles and guidelines on democratic elections, the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH), has directed its reporters not to cover the opposition MDC's election campaign ahead of the March parliamentary elections.

According to the privately-owned weekly, The Standard, Tazzen Mandizvidza, the editor-in-chief of ZBH subsidiary, Newsnet, said the MDC would not be accorded due coverage because it has not confirmed its participation in the March elections.

This contravenes the SADC principles and guidelines which call for equal participation of citizens in the electoral process and access to the state media by all political parties.

The MDC gave Zanu PF a scare in both the 2000 parliamentary and 2002 presidential elections which were widely condemned by the international community as not having been free and fair.

The MDC says it is still consulting on whether to participate in the elections arguing that the electoral playing field is uneven as the government is still to fully comply with the SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections.

The guidelines call for non-partisan coverage of all political parties by the state media.

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