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Print and Electronic Daily Media Update #9
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
March 31, 2005

1. Daily Print Media Update: March 31st 2005.

ELECTION DAY

a). Campaigns
The Herald continued to give space to ZANU PF campaigns as election day dawned while ignoring those of the opposition.

Today' s issue carried five campaign related reports. Of these, three were campaign rallies addressed by President Mugabe and his two deputies, Joseph Msika and Joyce Mujuru. One was a report on Mujuru's address to Professional Women Executives and Businesswomen's Forum in Harare. Although the event was not specifically a campaign meeting, it was used as a platform to give positive publicity to Mujuru and amplify government's policy of women empowerment, which is part of its campaign manifesto.

The other report was on the ZANU-PF aligned Reverend Obadiah Musindo's emotional attack on Archbishop Pius Ncube and National Constitutional Assembly chairman Lovemore Madhuku in which he described them as "malevolent spirits, spirits of Judas Iscariot, imperialist and anti-Christ spirits with too much love for money that have decided to sell this country".

The two were not given any right to reply.

These were:

• Vote for democracy and sovereignty
• Say 'No' to slavery - MDC, Blair have nothing to offer Zimbabwe
• Zimbabweans urged to vote wisely

While The Financial Gazette did not carry any campaign activities, it featured three opinion pieces campaigning for ZANU PF and MDC. Two of these were pro-ruling party while one was pro-MDC.

The paper also carried two articles on the post election period. One article speculated that President Mugabe would drop from his new Cabinet those who were linked to the infamous Tsholotsho Declaration. The other one gave the impression that ZANU PF will be able to resolve its internal problems and the crises facing Zimbabwe if it gets its targeted two-thirds majority. The other two reports were previews of the election outcome and a comment calling on the electorate to cast their votes, particularly for a party that has the capacity to "polish up the land reform programme" and revive the agricultural sector.

b). Administrative issues
The Herald carried five reports on administrative issues. All but four sought to give the impression that electoral logistics have been put in place for a free and fair poll. The other story was a report that Justice Nicholas Ndou had ruled as not urgent the application by independent candidate for Tsholotsho Jonathan Moyo challenging a section of the Electoral Act dealing with the number of polling agents required per polling station.

No alternative comment was sought on the matter.

In fact, its unwillingness to fully analyse the administration of the elections saw the paper waiting for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to respond to reports that almost 1 000 polling officers were barred from Mudzi by the District Administrator and ZANU PF candidate for the area Ray Kaukonde before it could report on the issue.

The paper quoted ZEC saying the officers were not "chased away" by Kaukonde but the commission ordered their return because they were "drunk" and "chanting slogans associated with a particular party".

No attempt was made to verify these alarming claims.

In its single report on administrative issues, The Financial Gazette revealed that officers who were barred from Mudzi had been re-deployed to other polling centres.

Unlike The Herald, which only relied on the ZEC, the private weekly quoted some of the officers giving the other side of the story.

c). Political violence
There were no reports of politically motivated violence recorded in The Herald or The Financial Gazette.

But The Gazette carried a story reporting that the country's security agents had been put on high alert to quell any violence that may be triggered by the outcome of the poll.

The weekly also reported that the South African High Court had dismissed an application by the police to bar COSATU's protest march and night vigil at the Beitbridge border post. The demonstration was called to express solidarity with the plight of Zimbabwean workers on the eve of the country's elections.

The Herald, which initially ignored the ruling, only reported that the protest "hit a snag when that country's police and soldiers prevented them from doing so".

2. Electronic Daily update: Wednesday March 30th

On the eve of the election ZBH gave ZANU-PF 12 minutes to air its election manifesto to the electorate for the second time. The manifesto was delivered in English, Shona and Ndebele and the presenters were the party's national chairman John Nkomo and the party's national commissar Elliot Manyika. Also accorded the opportunity to present their promises to the electorate was the leadership of the Zimbabwe People's Democratic Party (10 minutes), the Zimbabwe Youth Alliance (5 minutes), independent candidate for Chiredzi South Nehennia Ziname (five minutes) and independent candidate for Makokoba Bancinyane Ndiweni.

a) Campaigns
ZBH's pro-ZANU PF bias remained unbroken on the eve of the election. ZTV carried eight stories on ruling party campaigns against one for the MDC and none for the rest of the contestants.

And out of the 20 minutes and 5 seconds it allocated to the campaigns of the political parties, it gave 18 minutes 45 seconds (93%) to ZANU PF activities and only one minute 20 seconds (7%) to the MDC.

Power FM and Radio Zimbabwe were worse. All nine-campaign stories they carried were on ZANU PF affairs. Five of the stories were aired on Power FM while the remaining four were on Radio Zimbabwe.

The MDC, smaller parties and independent candidates were completely ignored. The private radio station Studio 7 was more balanced in its six stories on campaigns. All the stories reported on activities and profiles of candidates from ZANU PF and the MDC. Independent candidate Margaret Dongo's profile was also carried in one of the reports.

SW Radio Africa carried six campaign related reports. Of these, four were on the MDC's calls to the electorate to go and vote for the party. One was an interview with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai on the elections. The station reported that it tried to give ZANU PF the same opportunity but had declined. The other report quoted an unnamed MDC activist saying President Mugabe's anti-Blair campaign would cost him the election.

b) Administrative issues
ZTV carried nine reports on administrative issues, all of which echoed or amplified the authorities' optimism in their preparations for the election. For example, during an interview with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's Utoile Silaigwana, ZTV (8pm) failed to get him to explain how polling officers deployed outside their constituencies would vote.

ZBH radio stations carried a total of 15 reports on the administration of the election. Twelve of the stories were carried on Power FM and three by Radio Zimbabwe. Most of the stories (14), like those on ZTV, were passive endorsements of the police, electoral authorities and the South African Pan Africanist Congress' commendation on the adequacy of the election preparations.

The remaining story, carried by Power FM, reported ZEC as denying earlier private media reports alleging that about 1 000 polling officers initially sent to Mudzi had been ordered back by the ZANU PF candidate of the area Ray Kaukonde because they were "MDC loyalists". The government radio station cited ZEC saying, "Only drunk officers were called back". No independent corroboration for this allegation was attempted.

No other details, such as the number of recalled polling officers or the area(s) where they were withdrawn from were provided.

The private radio stations carried five stories on administrative issues, three of which were carried by SW Radio Africa and the rest by Studio 7. SW Radio Africa's stories consisted of alleged threats made against an observer from the South African opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) by that country's ruling ANC observer mission and calls to the EU by one of its parliamentarians, Geoffrey van Orden, to toughen its stance against Zimbabwe if the "election is rigged".

The private station's third story was on the High Court's dismissal of an urgent application by the independent candidate for Tsholotsho and former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo seeking to have the number of polling agents a candidate can have at each polling station increased from the present two to four. The court ruled that the matter did not warrant its urgent attention.

Studio 7 also reported on the matter in addition to its preview of the mood and preparedness of the electorate ahead of the poll. Although it quoted the Zimbabwe Election Supervisory Commission (ZESN) saying the atmosphere in the country was "fairly quiet and calm" and that people "were eager to cast votes" it noted however that the "mood" of the electorate was "subdued as compared to 2000" election.

c) Violence
ZTV did not carry any stories related to politically motivated violence or rights abuses. However, Radio Zimbabwe and Power FM carried a total of 10 stories on the topic but did not record any incidents. Eight of their stories were on calls to Zimbabweans by ruling party officials and the police to maintain peace. The rest comprised observations by the Pan Africanist Congress that the country was peaceful and yet another warning from the police to voters who gather at polling stations after voting as "being called by the opposition".

Studio 7 did not report anything on violence. Only SW Radio Africa carried two updates on COSATU's preparations to stage a night vigil at the Beitbridge Border Post in solidarity with Zimbabwean workers on the eve of the poll.

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