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5 MDC-T MPs unlawfully apprehended
Extracted from Media Update 25/2008
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
September 01, 2008

The government media did not record any cases of politically motivated violence this week. However, they reported the arrests of five MPs from the main formation of the MDC mostly on charges of inciting violence in the run-up to June 27 presidential run-off.

There was no holistic assessment of possible motives of the arrests - two of which occurred shortly before parliament was opened to elect a speaker - and their effect on the inter-party dialogue.

The government media restricted themselves to rehashing police comments justifying the arrests without attempts to seek comment from the opposition party (Spot FM and Radio Zimbabwe [26/8, 8pm] and The Herald and Chronicle [26&27/8]).

The private media were suspicious of the arrests, which they presented as politically motivated. For example, New Zimbabwe (25/8) quoted MDC Spokesman Nelson Chamisa alleging that the arrests were an attempt by ZANU PF to jail its legislators on trumped up charges so as to regain control of parliament after losing its parliamentary majority to the opposition party.

ZimOnline (25/8) quoted him further saying the arrests could derail the stalled talks. The private media also argued that the arrests violated parliamentary rules and procedures, but did not provide evidence of this. The Zimbabwean (28/8), for example, simply reported Bvudzijena as having said it was "illegal for anyone to be arrested while proceeding to parliament" without elaboration.

In addition, the private media reported the police's disruption of a meeting by local NGO Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition. SW Radio Africa (28/8) argued that the meeting's raid was in breach of the MOU which encouraged the negotiating parties to take "all necessary measures to eliminate all forms of political violence including by non-state actors, and to ensure security of persons and property".

The following day, the station reported the deaths of two MDC activists due to injuries sustained in ZANU PF attacks in the run-up to the run-off poll while The Zimbabwean and The Zimbabwe Times (30/8) reported that war vets had set-up bases in Matobo North constituency in preparation for a by-election following Moyo's election as Speaker of Parliament. However, both reports lacked official corroboration.

Figs 1 and 2 show the voice sourcing patterns in the private and public media.

Fig 1: Voice distribution in the government Press

Fig 2: Voice distribution in the private electronic media

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