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Daily Media Update No.39
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
April 27, 2008

Post-election focus
While the privately owned papers, The Standard and The Zimbabwean on Sunday (27/4) expressed concern over Zimbabwe's deepening post-election crisis, the government-run publications, The Sunday Mail and Sunday News (27/4) continued to sanitize the problem.

The government papers simply relied on official views justifying the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's delay in releasing the presidential poll results and failed to challenge them to state clearly when exactly they would do so.
In addition, the official papers distorted regional and international over ZEC's results delay and only presented them in the form of conspiracies against the authorities.

This was reflected in the 11 stories the government papers carried on the topic.

The Sunday Mail and Sunday News, for example, passively recorded ZEC chairman George Chiweshe telling a Press conference that following the expected completion of ballot recounts in 23 constituencies this weekend, ZEC would on Monday "invite" the presidential candidates or their agents to a "verification and collation exercise, leading to the announcement of the results . . . "

The papers did not interrogate the credibility of some of the reasons Chiweshe cited for the unacceptable delay, which included "transport" and "logistical challenges" in some constituencies, and the MDC's two High Court applications: one seeking to compel ZEC to release the results, the other to bar the commission from conducting its controversial vote recount exercise.

The weeklies also deliberately avoided informing the public that the commission's delay in releasing the results was the reason why the MDC took it court in the first place. They also failed to link the timing of ZEC's announcement with an reported ultimatum by SADC giving Harare until yesterday (Saturday) to release the results.

The Sunday News distorted information that Zimbabwe's post-electoral impasse had attracted the attention of the UN. It narrowly reported the news in the context of Britain as having "escalated its regime change agenda" by "forcing the country onto the United Nations Security Council agenda with the situation in the country set to be debated on Tuesday". It quoted "Information Minister" Sikhanyiso Ndlovu trivializing the international community's concern and warning the "world" that Zimbabwe was "taking seriously Britain and America's machinations and was not going to tolerate such interference in the country's internal affairs". He added that the UN should "never allow itself to be used by Britain and America to further their interests in Zimbabwe" without demonstrating how.
The government weeklies also accused SADC of being used by the West citing the refusal by some of its member countries to let a Chinese arms shipment destined for Zimbabwe to offload at their ports.

The Sunday Mail's editorial, for example, claimed that Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa "has not been himself in recent weeks", and criticized him for urging the region to bar the Chinese ship from its waters "after hastily" and "suspiciously" calling for a regional summit in Lusaka to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis. It claimed that the outcome of the meeting had a "clear message to Mr Mwanawasa" and "the hand pushing him that the regional body would not be used in the recolonization of one of its members", citing SADC's refusal to replace its mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis, South African President Thabo Mbeki, with the Zambian leader.

Fig 1 shows the sourcing patterns in the government Press.

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

The private papers devoted 55 reports to election related news, highlighting the negative implications of the results delay and the worsening human rights crisis in the country.

The Standard and The Zimbabwean On Sunday recorded 11 fresh incidents of politically motivated violence against perceived opposition supporters and published graphic pictures of the badly injured victims.The papers identified state security agents, war veterans and ruling party activists as the main offenders.

The Standard, for example, reported the murder of an MDC activist, Tabitha Marume, and the injury of seven other activists in Makoni West after soldiers and war veterans "opened fire on them as they demanded the release of their colleagues who soldiers had allegedly abducted". The paper cited police spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena, promising to verify the incident.

The Standard also published the assault of a 55-year-old man in Uzumba for allegedly voting for the MDC, while The Zimbabwean On Sunday claimed that a five-year-old had been "burnt to death" after ZANU PF supporters attacked his parents' home in the same area, accusing them of supporting the MDC.

In another story, The Zimbabwean On Sunday reported that suspected war veterans and ZANU PF youths in Nyamandlovu had assaulted more than 10 people for failing to attend their "daily meeting". However, the publication did not independently verify these incidents, or seek police comment.

The Standard and The Zimbabwean On Sunday reported commentators, human rights organisations and the international community criticizing the police for raiding the MDC's headquarters and the offices of the election watchdog, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network. The Standard, for example, reported South Africa's ANC president, Jacob Zuma, as having "condemned" the raids, which resulted in the arrest and detention of over 200 MDC supporters and the seizure of election material.

Zuma questioned the involvement of the police in Zimbabwe's electoral impasse and said "somebody is sabotaging the elections".

The Standard also quoted Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) describing the police action as "harassment and attacks" on legitimate human rights defenders and the opposition "under the guise of enforcing law and order".
The Standard's lead story argued that ZEC's announcement that the presidential poll results were likely to be announced this week "appeared to be in response to the expressed impatience of SADC, which gave yesterday as a deadline for ZEC to release the results . . . "

The paper also reported Harare as under pressure from the African Union, whose chairperson, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, was said to be considering convening an AU summit to discuss Zimbabwe's post-election crisis.

Fig 2 shows the sourcing patterns in private weeklies.

Fig 2: Voice distribution in The Standard and The Zimbabwean On Sunday

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