HARARE – The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has accused the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) of imposing a blackout on its activities ahead of elections this month. 

The MDC said ZBH was seeking to prop up President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU PF party’s campaign through favourable coverage, in what the opposition party said was a breach of regional guidelines that all political parties should receive equal coverage in the public media. 

Zimbabwe holds presidential, parliamentary and council elections on 29 March and Mugabe’s government faces a tricky challenge from the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC and from former finance minister Simba Makoni who is running as an independent but has the backing of a smaller faction of the divided MDC led by Arthur Mutambara. 

“It is our view that ZBH has abused its privilege to give unfair advantage to ZANU PF and its candidate even though as a publicly funded broadcaster, you are expected to give equal coverage to all political players,” MDC information director Luke Tamborinyoka wrote in a letter to ZBH boss, Henry Muradzikwa, dated February 27. 

The ZBH runs the country’s only radio and television stations and has the widest reach beyond independent newspapers that give fair coverage to the opposition but circulate almost exclusively in urban and peri-urban areas. 

There are at least three smaller radio stations that broadcast into Zimbabwe from outside the country but they do not have the same impact as ZBH. The government has from time-to-time jammed signals from the foreign-based radio stations. 

Tamborinyoka said the ZBH gave prime time coverage to ZANU PF and Mugabe while ignoring the opposition and cited as an example the broadcaster’s failure to cover the launching of the MDC campaign manifetso in Mutare city. 

ZBH did not send reporters to the event even though it had been invited but instead devoted several hours to reporting Mugabe’s 84th birthday celebration, which the veteran leader used to attack and denigrate the opposition. 

Muradzikwa was not immediately available for comment on the matter while the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission that conducts elections and has responsibility to ensure fairness said it was finishing preparing new regulations on the coverage of contestants in the polls. 

“The regulations are being finalised and I can’t comment further than that until the regulations are in place,” ZEC spokesman Utoile Silaigwana. He did not say when exactly the regulations would be announced. 

Analysts say an unfair political playing field guarantees Mugabe victory at the polls despite his failure to end Zimbabwe’s severe economic crisis seen in the world’s highest inflation rate of more than 100 000 percent, 80 percent unemployment and shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency. – ZimOnline