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Political developments
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2005-13
Tuesday April 12th - Sunday April 17th 2005

POST-ELECTION political developments in the country continued to generate interest from the media, which devoted 190 stories to the issue. Sixty-three of the reports were published in the government Press, 44 in private newspapers, 74 appeared on ZBH (ZTV, Power FM and Radio Zimbabwe) and the remaining 11 were carried by Studio 7.

Notable however, was the government media's continued attempts to stifle open debate on the renewed political crisis bedevilling the country following a disputed March 31st general election results. For instance, 33 of the 63 stories the government Press carried merely glossed over the negative effects of the poll controversy by either amplifying claims that the election was free and fair or by censoring and ridiculing alternative views on the matter. A typical story appeared in The Herald (14/4). Although it reported on the opposition MDC's legal challenge of 13 seats, which the opposition party claims it wants to use as a platform to show the extent to which the authorities rigged the poll, the story was characterised by editorial intrusions that depicted the party as confused. These editorial interruptions included describing the opposition party as "Western-backed", which had a tendency to cry "foul over every election it loses".

To buttress its portrayal of the MDC as a bad loser, the paper juxtaposed the story on the opposition's legal poll challenge with a report on the SA Cabinet's endorsement of the election as having "credibly reflected the will" of Zimbabweans. The report noted, however, that the SA cabinet had "stopped short" of declaring the election "free and fair" as it was "worried that some voters were turned away from polling stations". Still, the government newspapers, as illustrated by The Herald (15/4) continued to claim that the election had been "declared free and fair" by "most observer teams" although one of the observer teams, the AU, did not categorically state this.

Notable too, was the way the government newspapers dedicated 12 stories on the swearing-in of new MPs to gloss over the MDC/ZANU PF differences on the conduct of the poll. The Herald and Chronicle (13/4), for example, simplistically interpreted the MDC's participation in the parliamentary swearing-in as an acceptance by the opposition party of the election results. The papers reported that MPs from both parties had, in an incident free environment, displayed a "rare show of unity" during the installation of the legislators in which they unanimously selected ZANU PF chairman John Nkomo as Speaker and another ruling party official Edina Madzongwe as his deputy. Leader of the MDC in Parliament Gibson Sibanda's description of Nkomo as "fair minded" was then predominantly used to present the opposition party as finally taking heed of President Mugabe's post election call for the two parties to work together.

ZBH followed suit in its 41 reports on the swearing-in of MPs. For example, ZTV (13/4, 8pm) claimed that the taking the oath of loyalty by both ZANU PF and MDC legislators showed that the country was a "mature democracy" because the MPs had displayed a unity of purpose. Apart from trying to use the swearing-in ceremony to paper over the deteriorating political situation, ZBH also unquestioningly endorsed the appointment of a new Cabinet in its 19 reports on the matter. No attempt was made to analyse the economic ramifications of expanding the Cabinet at a time the country is facing a deepening economic crisis. Neither would the broadcaster fully discuss the apparent duplication of roles between some ministries such as the Finance Ministry and Economic Development Ministry, which both used to be under one portfolio. Similarly, the government Press' three reports on the Cabinet failed to clarify such issues.

In fact, the government media's uncritical approach in handling the post-election political developments was reflected in ZBH's sourcing pattern. Although it sought comment from diverse sources as Figure 1 shows, almost all those quoted echoed the official line.

Fig 1 Voice distribution on ZBH

Three of the six MDC voices were quoted in the context of ZBH's attempts to use the swearing in ceremony to sanitize the country's political situation. The broadcaster merely quoted MDC MPs saying they would work with ZANU PF for the development of the country. The remaining three voices were Welshman Ncube's statements on his party's decision to petition the court over election results.

In contrast, the private Press' 44 reports on the political developments in the country were more revealing. Thirteen of their stories showed that contrary to the government media reports, the political situation in the country remained volatile. For example, The Financial Gazette (14/4) reported that apart from its legal challenge to poll results in some constituencies, the MDC was planning street protests to force the authorities to conduct an election rerun. Similarly, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) was reported by the Zimbabwe Independent (1/5) as preparing to increase the pressure on government to democratise the country's constitution. Even ZANU PF itself remained divided, added The Financial Gazette, noting that non-constituency MP and ZANU PF politburo member Emmerson Mnangagwa's bid to seek re-election as Speaker of Parliament had been thwarted at the ruling party's central committee in another demonstration of power struggles within ZANU PF.

In fact, The Standard cited commentators as anticipating no improvement in the political environment of the country in its story: New Cabinet 'full of deadwood'. The commentators believed that the new enlarged Cabinet, described by President Mugabe as a "Development Cabinet", would actually worsen the country's plight due to the appointment of "hardliners" to key positions, a move that suggested that there would be no "re-engagement with the international community which Zimbabwe urgently needs".

Likewise, Studio 7 also carried 10 reports that further exposed the political tensions that are prevailing in the country. Although the station largely quoted independent commentators and the MDC in its political stories, it tried to balance their views by seeking comment from ZANU PF members such as William Nhara and Simbi Mubako as shown here.

Fig 2 Voice distribution on Studio 7

The government media diverted its audiences' attention away from the pertinent political issues raised by the private media by bombarding them with stories on the country's Silver Jubilee celebrations, some of which hardly qualified as news. The government Press carried 39 stories while ZBH had 65 reports on the issue. So preoccupied was ZTV with the country's 25th independence anniversary that it carried 19 reports on the Silver Jubilee celebrations, which occupied 42 minutes (26%) out of the 3 hours 14 minutes and 15 seconds of its main 8pm bulletins (excluding foreign, business and sports news segments) of the week.

In addition, ZTV carried live musical events and the presentation of awards to selected Zimbabwean sports personalities and liberation war heroes, who included regional leaders such as former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and the widow of the former Tanzanian leader Julius Nyerere. All government media reports passively celebrated the independence anniversary as a milestone achievement in protecting the country's "hard won independence" and "democracy". These media avoided an honest discussion of the political and economic problems that have bedeviled the country in the last five years and instead presented a rosy picture of the country's purported achievements.

However, comments in the Financial Gazette, Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard tackled the subject differently. While all were aware of the importance of the Silver Jubilee celebrations, they called upon the authorities to come up with solutions to Zimbabwe's political and economic problems rather than grandstanding exclusively about the past. Warned the Independent: "As long as one booming voice, devoid of substance and locked in the mantras of the past continues to claim to speak for all Zimbabweans, we shall fail as a nation. That is the message from the 2005 poll."

In addition, the Independent reported that President Mugabe was likely to use his party majority in Parliament to amend the constitution and extend his term of office, among other changes, by two years so that the presidential and general elections could be held concurrently in 2010.

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