Back to Index

This article participates on the following special index pages:

Daily Media Update 48
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
June 22, 2008

Election focus
The government-controlled weeklies, The Sunday Mail and Sunday News (22/6), published 19 reports on this week's presidential election run-off between President Mugabe and winner of the initial poll, Morgan Tsvangirai.

Four were on political violence, party campaigns (13) and election administration (2). The Standard (22/6) carried (13) stories on the run-off: political violence (seven), party campaigns (four) and poll management (two).

Political violence
The official weeklies continued to misreport escalating cases of political violence in Zimbabwe.They narrowly attributed the violence to the MDC without investigating ZANU PF's blameworthiness. For example, all the four incidents that the papers recorded identified the MDC as being responsible. However, these incidents were old and reported from the perspective of the police, ZANU PF or the war veterans. For example, the Sunday News, in a story littered with editorial intrusions, reported suspected MDC supporters as "instigating a wave of violence" in some parts of Lupane district in Matabeleland North, quoting provincial War Veterans Association chairman Zenzo Ncube. However, there was no effort to independently investigate the truth of Ncube's claims.

It merely amplified his allegations that MDC supporters were on a "war path" in the area to "provoke the ruling party's supporters and former freedom fighters" without explaining the alleged provocation.

The paper also passively reported Ncube's ridiculous claim that the suspects "have also resorted to burning their own homes to create a notion that the ruling party's supporters are responsible for the treacherous acts" without challenging him to provide some evidence to support this nonsense.

No comment was sought from the MDC.

The government papers also downplayed mounting international pressure on Harare to stop the violence.
The Sunday News approvingly reported South Africa as having "snubbed" British and American efforts on Thursday to condemn the Zimbabwe government over the violence by "sending a low-level representative" to a UN discussion on the issue.

The paper attempted to discredit the meeting, which was chaired by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her counterpart from Burkina Faso, by claiming that it was convened at the "instigation" of the US to "force other Security Council members to condemn Zimbabwe" and "build a case for UN intervention in the country and the scrapping of Friday's presidential run-off election which President Mugabe is heavily tipped to win".

The privately owned Standard on the other hand, published detailed updates of the violence and argued that it had severely undermined the credibility of Friday's election. It recorded eight incidents of violence, committed by marauding gangs of ZANU PF supporters, war veterans and state security agents. To support its claims, the paper published pictures of ZANU PF supporters committing the violence in party regalia, and the badly mutilated bodies of some of the victims.

The Standard reported that the country's urban areas, which are opposition strongholds, were "under siege" from ZANU PF militias, youths and war veterans. The paper noted a "heavy presence" of these militia in Harare and Chitungwiza, a gang of youths dubbed Chipangano (our agreement), who were conducting a terror campaign, relentlessly attacking suspected MDC supporters in areas like Mbare, Rugare, Warren Park, and Dzivarasekwa.
The Standard observed that the group was ordering residents to remove their TV satellite dishes and forcing them to attend all-night meetings (pungwe) where they were ordered to sing ZANU PF songs praising Mugabe and his party.
An eyewitness confirmed some of these incidents: "All those who do not know ZANU PF slogans are assaulted in public. Even commuter omnibuses are forced to pull off the road and commuters ordered to chant ZANU PF slogans. It's so degrading".

Parties' campaigns
The government weeklies continued to flood their pages with ZANU PF's poll preparations while censoring the MDC's campaign activities. All 13 reports the papers carried were on ZANU PF. The only time they made reference to the MDC and its leader was in the context of accusing them of being Western puppets bent on reversing the gains of the liberation struggle by handing the country back to Britain if they win the run-off. No evidence was provided to substantiate these claims.

The papers also endorsed inflammatory comments by senior ZANU PF officials without attempting to examine their offensive nature, or how they undermined the democratic process. The Sunday Mail's political editor, Munyaradzi Huni, for example, celebrated some of Mugabe's inflammatory comments under an editorial headlined: Speeches that won the war.

Huni wrote: "When the lion roars, its enemies scatter. This is the simple and short statement that aptly describes how Mugabe's thundering voice since the March 29 elections has cowed the MDC leader . . . and his dwindling followers".

Huni published 32 excerpts of Mugabe's vitriolic attacks on his perceived political opponents, including Tsvangirai, US ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee, and US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer. In one of the speeches Mugabe declared that his party was, "prepared to go to war" if he loses the run-off to Tsvangirai while in another he said: "Nyika iyi yakauya neropa, negidi, zvino imi mava kuda kutengesa nepenzura? [This country came through the barrel of the gun and blood. Are you sure that you now want to sell it through the pen? (vote)] The papers favourably reported Mugabe's campaign rallies in Masvingo Province and in Bulawayo.
The reports on these rallies were excessively long, quoting Mugabe promising the electorate improved standards of living and better food supplies.

In another story, The Sunday Mail attempted to discredit the MDC by claiming the party was planning to appoint white ministers in critical ministries if it wins the run-off. The story, based on unnamed sources, claimed that former MDC Member of Parliament for Chimanimani, Roy Bennett, would become the new Agriculture Minister. The paper quoted unnamed political commentators saying the move "clearly shows that the MDC leader plans to reverse the land reform programme" adding that there was "nothing that provokes former freedom fighters, dead or alive, than this". The paper carried seven ZANU PF campaign adverts and none for MDC.

The Standard presented a balanced coverage of the parties' campaign activities, analyzed the policies of the contestants, and criticized ZANU PF's use of inflammatory language against its opponents. It devoted two stories to ZANU PF and the same number to the MDC. The paper noted that Mugabe and his lieutenants were threatening the electorate with war at rallies. Contrary to claims by the government Press that Mugabe was addressing "star rallies" across the country, The Standard reported that only 2 000 people turned up at White City Stadium in Bulawayo on Friday. The Standard carried 12 campaign adverts for MDC-T and 10 for ZANU PF.

Administrative issues
There was no improvement in the government papers' coverage of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's poll preparations. Their two reports on the matter provided little useful information on ZEC's readiness to hold a free and fair election. In one of the reports, the Sunday News passively recorded ZEC and the police saying that they were ready for the run-off, citing the commission's training and deployment of 210 constituency officers, and the accreditation of 25 local and 210 foreign observers. However, the paper did not question the sufficiency of the accredited local observers in view of the fact that ZEC is planning to set up more than 9,000 polling stations, the selective invitation of foreign observers, and their late arrival.

The Sunday News also dismissed reports that government was selectively inviting observers and journalists to monitor the poll. It passively quoted the commission's deputy chief elections officer, Utoile Silaigwana, saying: "The foreign journalists are from all over the world coming from SAPA, AFP, Al Jazeera and other media organizations".
The Standard criticized Zimbabwe's flawed electoral process, including the controversial postal balloting system, and the prevailing hostile political environment, which it argued undermined the credibility of the election.
It reported that there was disaffection among the security forces after they were forced to cast their postal votes in favour of President Mugabe by their commanders.

Figs 1 and 2 show the sourcing patterns in the government weeklies and The Standard.

Fig 1: Voice distribution in the official weeklies

Fig 2: Voice distribution in The Standard

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