bans from contesting of opposition candidates or indeed voters. • Therefore, it is important to keep a watchful eye on how the law is applied, ensuring that it is done uniformly rather than selectively. If selectively done, it could pose a worse problem as any action would be regarded as lawful and therefore in conformity with the rule of law. The Commission, the ZHRC and interested observers should ensure that the law is applied fairly and uniformly across the board. • There must also be a requirement that matters brought to the special prosecutors and special magistrates courts be dealt with on an urgent basis. Justice must be seen to be done during the relevant period of elections if the deterrent effect is to be achieved. To that effect there must be a requirement to ensure urgency is the key word in these matters and that matters must as far as possible be finalised during the election period. Perpetrators of offences during election periods must suffer the consequences of their actions without undue delays and the more this is visible to the general public, the more it will inculcate a culture of accountability and therefore build confidence in the system. The same urgency should inform the operations of the Electoral Court. XV MEDIA COVERAGE Clause 34 introduces Part XXIB which is essentially based on an equivalent part of the Zimbabwe OF ELECTIONS Electoral Commission Act. The main aim is to ensure that news media, particularly the public news media, give fair and equitable coverage to all parties contesting an election. Public Broadcasters • Section 160G (1) specifically places a mandatory requirement on public broadcasters to give all parties contesting an election free access to the broadcasting services as prescribed. Subsection 2 envisages that regulations will be made to give the prescriptions contemplated in subsection 1 so that the time allocation and coverage are fair and balanced, allowing each party in an election “reasonable opportunity to present a case through the broadcasting service”. • This mandatory obligation on the public broadcaster is particularly important given that 39