Zimbabwe's MDC adverts blacked out of public media ahead of poll

BULAWAYO - Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman, Nelson Chamisa yesterday said the government has directed the public media not to publish political advertisements from his party.

While Zanu PF has started a campaign blitz on national radio and television and newspapers, MDC political material is conspicuously absent from the public media.

State media sources confirmed Chamisa’s accusations saying the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Publicity, George Charamba, pronounced the order to not only reject MDC advertisements, but also to report the opposition party in bad light.

“That one is clear because we are publishing Zanu PF advertisements every day but there has been no MDC advertisements,” said an advertising executive at Bulawayo-based Chronicle.  “We were told that MDC adverts are banned. We have been in touch with their (MDC) advertising agency, but we told them we cannot do anything as the matter is beyond our control.”

MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who beat Zanu PF candidate, President Robert Mugabe by more than 100 000 votes in the first round election in March goes into a re-match with the octogenarian leader late this month.

The former trade unionist garnered 47 percent of the valid vote while Mugabe got 43 percent.

But he has been having a tough campaign period because police, apparently working on orders from Zanu PF have systematically refused to sanction his rallies and have also arrested scores of MDC officials.

While Tsvangirai’s rallies remain banned, Mugabe and his party officials are holding rallies and political meetings all over the country.
Chamisa said the MDC has had problems with Zimpapers and Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC).

“We are having big problems with The Herald and ZBC,” he said. “It is purely because of the dictatorship that is leading this country. The ZBC and Zimpapers are refusing to publish our campaign material and you can see clearly that there is an instruction from somewhere. We know the order came from Charamba.”

The cash-strapped public media, said our Zimpapers source, is also losing tens of trillions of dollars in potential revenue by rejecting MDC political advertisements.

A full-page advertisement in The Herald costs at least $1 trillion while in the Chronicle costs around $800 billion. Zanu PF is taking an average of two full-page advertisements in each of the newspapers
daily.

Chamisa said his party is crafting a measured response to the ban. He refused to disclose the response.

“What Zanu –PF is doing is illegal,” he said. “It is also against the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) principles and guidelines governing democratic elections, which Zanu PF endorsed in 2004.”

Leaders in the 14-member regional bloc committed themselves to
upholding the principles and guidelines during their summit held in Mauritius in August 2004.

Broadly, the guidelines seek to even out the electoral playing field in SADC through guaranteeing political tolerance, freedom of association, full participation of all citizens in elections and free access to the media.

Articles 2.1.5 and 7.4 specifically call for unhindered access to the media for all political parties contesting in elections. Article 2.1.5 says
member states must provide, “Equal opportunity for all political parties to access the state media. Article 7.4 states that a country holding an election must, “Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens including the freedom of movement, assembly, association, expression, and campaigning as well as access to the media on the part of all stakeholders, during electoral processes as provided for under 2.1.5."

As if to confirm the ban, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Patrick Chinamasa told state media last weekend that Zanu PF would not entertain MDC arguments regarding the leveling of the electoral playing field.

Chinamasa, who is also the chairman of the Zanu PF information and publicity sub-committee, said the ruling party would only consider doing so if the MDC calls for the lifting of what he described as western sanctions on Zimbabwe.

He was referring to the targeted sanctions imposed by the European Union and America on senior ruling party and government officials. Chinamasa claimed that the so-called sanctions tilted the playing field against Zanu PF.