|
Back to Index
Electoral
violence and other related violations
Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-43
Monday October
23rd 2006 – Sunday October 29th 2006
THIS week the
government media ignored incidents of electoral violence and other
related violations.
As has become
the norm, only the private media exposed the abuses. They carried
15 reports that highlighted cases of arson, violent attacks, intimidation
and vote-buying, allegedly perpetrated by ZANU PF activists against
perceived MDC members. However, almost all the reports mainly relied
on the opposition claims and lacked independent corroboration. For
example, in one of the stories, SW Radio Africa (23/10) quoted MDC’s
suspended Chitungwiza mayor Misheck Shoko claiming that he "survived
an assassination attempt" after "unidentified
gunmen opened fire at his house" and "fired
three shots at him at close range".
No effort was
made to establish the veracity of these serious allegations.
Instead, the station
simply allowed him to attribute the incidents to suspected
"ZANU PF security organs", who had "trailed
him from the moment he started campaigning in some rural wards in
Dema".
The station (25/10)
and Studio 7 (26/10) also reported the opposition accusing ruling
party activists of burning down its supporters’ houses in Gokwe,
Mudzi, Mutoko and some parts of Manicaland. The stories were part
of several unsubstantiated reports the private media carried on
electoral violence.
The private
electronic media also carried three other incidents of rights violations.
These were on the arrest of university students and Women
of Zimbabwe Arise activists on allegations of engaging in ‘illegal’
demonstrations and addressing unsanctioned public gatherings.
The government
media also censored these cases.
They similarly
ignored reports of government’s intention to introduce legislation
that would cripple private telecommunications companies by giving
the state-owned TelOne a monopoly over foreign currency earned through
termination rates for international traffic.
This appeared
in the Zimbabwe Independent (27/10).
The move, the
paper noted, was in disregard of a January 2004 High Court ruling
that set aside a similar statutory instrument and in "violation
of a 1998 Supreme Court ruling", which struck
down the state’s monopoly on communications.
Visit the MMPZ
fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
