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Politically motivated rights violations
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-17
Monday 9th 2005 - Sunday May 15th 2005

WHILE Zimbabwe was applying to host the next session of the African Commission for Human and People's Rights (the Zimbabwe Independent 13/5), the media continued to expose the on-going politically motivated rights violations in the country. However, all the stories appeared in the private media, which carried 16 reports on the matter and recorded a similar number of rights abuses. Six were on SW Radio Africa, three were on Studio 7 and the private Press published the rest.

The stories included the harassment and denial of food to MDC activists or those suspected to belong to the party, the assault of Harare residents and the barring of opposition and civics' gatherings. ZANU-PF members, the police, and traditional leaders were all implicated as the perpetrators.

In one of the reports, Studio 7 (9/5) reported that a traditional leader in Makoni North, John Rukweza, had summoned four MDC officials to explain why they had organised a rally in his area when the opposition party was prohibited from holding meetings in the region. Reportedly, Rukweza claimed he was acting on the instructions of State Security Minister and MP for the area, Didymus Mutasa. In another story, SW Radio Africa (9/5) revealed that students who were suspected of supporting the MDC were facing similar harassment. The station reported that 13 Midlands State University students were briefly detained by college security details for allegedly singing pro-MDC songs in a college bus. They were subsequently released after several hours and barred from singing in the bus.

Further, SW Radio Africa (11/5 & 12/5), Studio 7 (13/5), The Daily Mirror (13/5) and The Standard (15/5) reported on the violent dispersal by the police of Mabvuku and Tafara residents who were protesting against water shortages in Harare. In addition, The Standard exposed the continued denial of food to suspected MDC supporters in the Masvingo district of Zaka. The paper also reported on the police's raid of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions offices "in search of any evidence of foreign currency transactions". The government media censored such reports.

But while the private Press and Studio 7 tried to seek comment from the police and some of the accused in some of their reports, SW Radio Africa's stories were notable for their lack of balance. The private radio station's reports only gave the victims' accounts of events at the expense of official sources such as the police. Neither would the station provide evidence that it sought comment from the police or the alleged perpetrators. It is imperative that the private media do seek comments from the relevant authorities on such topical issues so as to jealously protect their professionalism.

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