Newsnet boss Chivinge fired over China trip

Newsnet boss Chivinge fired over China trip

FIRST AGAIN: Our Tuesday headline

• Chivinge faces axe over China trip

• ZBH board cut as Muradzikwa named CEO

• Muradzikwa set to be named new ZBH boss

• Zanu PF fires newspaper editor

• Power struggle at Information Ministry

• Zimbabwe's information minister Jokonya dies

• Jonathan Moyo: ZBH needs money, but whose money?

• Jokonya makes sweeping changes at ZBH

• MP's finger Herald political editor over sexual abuse

By Lebo Nkatazo

NEWSNET Editor-in-Chief Chris Chivinge lost his job Tuesday, just as we told you.

New Zimbabwe.com revealed that bosses of Zimbabwe's state-run television were furious after the journalist gatecrashed into a Presidential delegation on a trip to China.

Sources say Chivinge wanted to use the trip for personal business but courted the ire of new Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) CEO, Henry Muradzikwa.

A Newsnet bulletin on Tuesday night said Chivinge had been replaced by Tarzan Mandizvidza. The report said Chivinge had been suspended pending dismissal.

We revealed Tuesday that senior officials within the country's intelligence services had ordered a probe into how the former Herald reporter managed to get on the plane carrying President Robert Mugabe and senior officials without official clearance.

ZBH sources said initial suspicions lay with President Mugabe's official spokesman, George Charamba.

But Charamba moved swiftly to distance himself from Chivinge, telling Muradzikwa in a telephone conversation that he was also surprised to see him on the plane after take off, sources said.

Officials and aides accompanying President Mugabe on foreign trips are not subjected to normal immigration and excise duty routines, and Chivinge is thought to have been trying to avoid taxes on new computers he wanted to buy and resell to ZBH through a third party.

Chivinge also faces accusations that he commandeered three company vehicles and "loaned" them out to officials from the Pig Industry Board, allegedly as a favour for assisting him to kick-start a piggery project he is establishing on a farm he was recently allocated.

ZBH bosses were told that the vehicles were fueled at the Newsnet depot at Pockets Hill and driven out and given to the PIB officials who used them for taking supplies and other inputs to Chivinge's farm.

Chivinge's departure is a prelude to major staff changes set to be announced by Muradzikwa on Wednesday.

Muradzikwa will name his new management team, and ZBH sources say most departmental heads for the nine ZBH companies which are being collapsed into two -- Radio Services and Television Services -- will be retrenched.

Former sports presenter Robson Mhandu is tipped to be the general manager for Television Services, while presenter Walter Mupfanochiya is tipped to head Radio Services.

Chivinge's meteoric rise to the top is credited partly to political meddling at the country's state-run monopoly broadcaster.

A former Herald colleague, reacting to Chivinge's latest troubles said last night: "He was one of those shabby little boys at The Herald in the early 90s. His meteoric rise was a result of his outstanding quality to curry favour with bosses. It is a quality that he took to Munhumutapa Building; a quality many who have risen to high positions at government media houses, possess."
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