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Daily Media Update No.25
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
April 13, 2008

Daily print media report - Sunday, April 13th, 2008

Post-election focus
The government-controlled weeklies, The Sunday Mail and Sunday News, continued to downplay the intensifying constitutional and political crisis in Zimbabwe sparked by the electoral authorities' refusal to release the presidential election results and their controversial decision to conduct a recount in a number of constituencies. The papers censored other important news, such as Friday night's High Court order granting the MDC interim relief against the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's decision to conduct a recount in 23 constituencies at the instigation of ZANU PF. The two papers predictably led their front pages with the views of South African President, Thabo Mbeki, following his meeting in Harare with President Mugabe ahead of the emergency SADC summit, convened to discuss Zimbabwe's post-election crisis.

They approvingly reported Mbeki's comments as proof of a general overreaction to ZEC's refusal to release the results of the presidential poll when they reported him saying, there was "no crisis in Zimbabwe as everybody is waiting for ZEC to announce the results".

He described Zimbabwe's post-poll situation as a "normal electoral process according to the laws of the country". The Sunday Mail and Sunday News did not question Mugabe's motives for not attending the SADC summit, passively attributing this to the late invitation and other unspecified commitments. The government weeklies distorted growing international frustration over ZEC's refusal to release the results by claiming that Britain and America had "stepped up pressure on other countries to force Mugabe to give power to Tsvangirai" before the official announcement of the results.

The Sunday Mail and Sunday News also reported ZEC ordering a recount in 23 House of Assembly constituencies without questioning the legality of such a move or analysing its implications.

In another story, the Sunday News reported ZEC as having "entered into an agreement" with agents of presidential candidates that contested the election to "compile results for their candidates using figures they got from polling stations" and "then match them with those the electoral body has before the results of the crucial poll is made public".

It quoted ZEC chairman, George Chiweshe, saying the electoral authority would only issue "a comprehensive statement" on the contentious presidential ballot after a High Court ruling tomorrow. Chiweshe claimed that the results were "unlikely to be released immediately because of . . . the controversy around them", adding that because of this ZEC was "trying to come up with a result that will not be contested by any of the four parties". The government-controlled weeklies also ignored widespread reports of human rights violations against a variety of Zimbabweans by state security agents and ZANU PF supporters.

The Standard provided more informed coverage of Zimbabwe's post election problems, highlighted rising tensions in the country, and growing regional and international pressure on Harare to release the outcome of the presidential poll. Only The Standard revealed that the High Court had "stopped at the last minute" ZEC's controversial decision to conduct a recount in the 23 constituencies by granting the MDC interim relief in its urgent application to stop the Commission from doing so. The paper viewed the ruling as a "big blow" to Mugabe who "could have used the recount to gain more votes to justify a run-off with Tsvangirai" who is reported to be the winner of the first round. Notably, ZEC took out large advertisements in all the Sunday papers notifying the public of its intention to conduct a recount in 23 constituencies, which formed the entirety of ZBC's coverage of the news without any interpretation.

However, The Standard reported the MDC's petition claiming "there was no basis in law for a recount in the presidential vote when candidates were not aware of the result." The paper also reported the MDC stating in its petition that "it had never been informed that recounts were requested" as stipulated by the Electoral Act, and submitted that no requests were made "at all or within 48 hours," as required by the law.The Standard's comment blamed Mugabe for ZEC's delay in the announcement of the results arguing that he "simply . . . does not want Zimbabweans to know that he was defeated" by Tsvangirai. It argued that the continued delay robbed Zimbabweans of their "right to know the outcome of their vote" and was "a blatant violation of the SADC electoral guidelines".

The Standard pointed out that if ZANU PF had won the election, the outcome "would not have remained a State secret", adding that it would have seized the opportunity to remind the world, and particularly the West, that the victory was "a measure of the popularity of Mugabe's party". It also criticized the dismantling of the National Command Centre "even though there are indications some results could be contested" and feared the results could now be "at the mercy of those whose wish is to deny the right of the people to decide who should lead this country".
The private weekly highlighted SADC's disquiet over the Zimbabwe crisis. It cited SADC chair and Zambian president, Levy Mwanawasa, speaking at the start of the summit saying, "It would be wrong to turn a blind eye on Zimbabwe". He said ZEC's failure to announce the results had "given rise to a climate of tension in the country" adding that this was further "aggravated" by the Zimbabwe High Court's "inability to settle the matter speedily". The paper also recorded five incidents of human rights violations and violence mainly by state security agents and ZANU PF supporters against a cross section of Zimbabweans.

Among them was the burning of house belonging to an MDC (Tsvangirai) official in Chiweshe and the arrest in Mashonaland East of three people who had gone to a police station to report a ZANU PF official who was said to be waging a campaign of retribution against people suspected to have voted for the MDC. Similarly, it reported the burning of more than 30 huts belonging to farm workers in Mashonaland Central by war veterans and ZANU PF militias. The paper sought comment from a provincial police spokesperson, Michael Munyikwa, who said he was still investigating the incident.

Figs 1 and 2 show the sourcing patterns of the official weeklies and The Standard.

Fig 1: Voice distribution in The Sunday Mail and Sunday News

Fig 2: Voice distribution in The Standard

Daily Electronic Media Report - Saturday April 12th 2008

Post-election focus
ZBC maintained its one-dimensional coverage of the presidential election result standoff by carrying reports justifying ZANU PF's complicity in the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's refusal to release the results on the back of the party's allegations of election rigging while censoring alternative views. This partisan coverage even saw the national public broadcaster ignore a High Court ruling on Friday night granting the MDC interim relief in its urgent petition seeking to bar ZEC from conducting recounts in 16 constituencies that ZANU PF lost to the MDC, alleging a miscount of the party's votes. This only appeared in the private media.

ZTV (8pm), for example, restricted its coverage to reporting that ZANU PF had written to ZEC requesting a recount of the presidential ballot without even questioning the legality, let alone the logic of the party's perplexing attempts to revisit a result that has still not been released. In addition, it sought to give credence to ZANU PF's voter manipulation claims when it cited a "detailed secret document" said to have been authored by MDC secretary general Tendai Biti "with clear details of how to rig the elections". Reportedly, it exposed how "a number of teachers engaged by ZEC as election officials agreed to overstate the vote (of the opposition) for a payment of between $3bn and $60bn". No effort was made to establish the authenticity of such a serious allegation. Similarly, no comment was sought from the MDC except for the presenter's brief reference that the party had "distanced itself from the document". Neither did the station view the matter as sub-judice in view of on-going court appearances of the ZEC officials accused of 'election fraud'.

However, its presenter appeared to have found the temptation to lace the report with her own opinion irresistible, claiming that the alleged document was "meant to guarantee an MDC landslide victory which would enable the party to take over the country and implement . . . changes meant to please their international friends who sponsored . . . (their) campaign".

All ZBC's evening bulletins seized on comments by South African President Thabo Mbeki dismissing ZEC's refusal to release the presidential election results as constituting a "crisis" after meeting President Mugabe en-route to an emergency SADC heads of state meeting in Lusaka to try to find a solution to the post-election tension in the country.

As a result, there was no attempt to qualify Mbeki's claim that the post-election situation in the country was "a normal process, which is in accordance with the laws of the country". Neither did the broadcaster reconcile his observations with those of his ruling ANC party, which believes that ZEC's continued delay in releasing the results threatened Zimbabwe's stability. ZBC simply accepted Mbeki's blind defence of ZANU PF without questioning how this affected his role as the SADC-appointed mediator between the party and the MDC in search of a negotiated settlement.

Instead, reporter Judith Makwanya took the opportunity to malign the MDC, saying: "Mr Mbeki also spoke about his meeting with the MDC Tsvangirai side, where the group is said to be chickening out of the runoff, claiming it won the election even before the last result is pronounced by the electoral commission" (ZTV, 8pm). As a result of this unprofessional editorial insertion, it remained unclear whether it was Mbeki who had accused the MDC of being scared of a run-off or whether it was just the reporter's own opinion. There was also no explanation for Makwanya's assumption that there would be a second round presidential poll in the absence of official results.

Only the private electronic media continued to give due attention to the rising tension in the country precipitated by ZEC's failure to release the presidential poll results and what the private media perceived to be ZANU PF's failure to accept defeat. They continued to highlight international outrage over the issue, updated their audiences on the legal battles being waged, and the post-election retribution attacks against white commercial farmers and perceived MDC supporters by ZANU PF militia and state security agents countrywide, among other developments. For example, they exposed the differences in opinion in SADC over the Zimbabwe situation, citing Mbeki's dismissal of a 'crisis' and the concern expressed by SADC chairman, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa.

Studio 7 reported that Mwanawasa had "made it clear" in his opening remarks at the SADC meeting that unlike Mbeki, he "believed the situation in Zimbabwe constitutes a crisis and requires regional intervention".
The Zimbabwe Times and SW Radio Africa gave the same version of the story. The Zimbabwe Times, for example, observed that the SADC meeting, which spilled into Sunday, had put pressure on the country's delegation of three former cabinet ministers and the former secretary of foreign affairs (representing Mugabe) to "immediately release" the presidential election results.

It also reported the Zimbabwe delegation as having taken "great exception" to the presence of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, widely believed to have won the presidential poll, while Mbeki and Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos were reported to have "fiercely defended" Mugabe.

Zimdaily also reported differences in the ranks of the war veterans over the post-election crisis. It carried a letter from one body of the former liberation war fighters, the Zimbabwe Liberation Veterans' Forum, announcing their readiness "to side with Zimbabweans, MDC, civil society and all progressive forces in Zimbabwe to defend the ideals of self-determination". In addition, the body called on "all commanders of various state security arms to uphold their constitutional duty to respect elections outcome". ZBC censored these issues.

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