HARARE – The Herald will have a new editor after Joram Nyathi was finally sacked last week.
Nyathi had been told to “go home and wait for further instructions” on January 22 after he placed a picture of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was returning from a five-country visit to Eastern Europe, on an inside page. He was summoned to the Information Ministry where he was accused of lacking good judgment.
Last week, the Zimbabwe Newspaper Group – publishers of The Herald – told Nyathi he was being retrenched. The company bought out his five-year contract which he only signed in December when he succeeded Caesar Zvayi.
Nyathi confirmed to ZimLive that he had left The Herald.
Zimpapers, which has more than 10 publications, is tightly controlled by the Ministry of Information. It has become practice that a newly-appointed minister appoints new editors, especially for the major dailies and weeklies.
Nyathi, who was previously deputy editor, had been promoted to editor but was never Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa’s man, according to insiders.
ZimLive understands Zimpapers chiefs had been told to recruit former Southern Times editor Moses Magadza, but he was passed on after he asked for three months to wind-up his business in Namibia.
Mutsvangwa and his permanent secretary Nick Mangwana will now likely look within the Zimpapers group for an editor. The promotion opportunity is considered to have come too early for Tichaona Zindoga, the Herald’s deputy editor seconded to the post last December from his previous role as political editor.
Several senior journalists have been invited to resubmit their CVs for the minister’s attention. It is understood Manica Post editor Hatred Zenenga, Chronicle editor Innocent Madonko and The Suburban editor Itayi Musengeyi are some of the names being considered.
