Editor faces axe for criticising Zimbabwe government

Editor faces axe for criticising Zimbabwe government

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By Lindie Whiz

BHEKINKOSI Ncube, the editor of the state-run UMthunywa newspaper has been sent on forced leave pending dismissal for running stories critical of the Zanu PF government's policies and so-called empowerment programmes.

UMthunywa is part of the government's Zimpapers media stable, and is published in the Ndebele language. The paper is printed in Bulawayo and distributed across the provinces of Matabeleland North, South and Bulawayo.

Under Ncube's editorship, the newspaper had become popular in Matabeleland for breaking ranks with its sister papers to criticise some government policies.

Sources at Zimpapers said Ncube's suspension last week was precipitated by the paper's August 15 issue which carried a front page picture of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The paper ran with a headline "Walile uTsvangirai” [Tsvangirai has refused (to sign)], in reference to the MDC leader's refusal to sign a proposal for a power sharing deal with Robert Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara.

Ncube was last week summoned to Harare by Zimpapers CEO Justin Mutasa where he was told that the authorities no longer wanted him and told to go on forced leave pending dismissal, a company executive told New Zimbabwe.com.

Ncube has been barred from entering Zimpapers in Bulawayo and had his company-issued vehicle grabbed from him by a junior employee sent to his home to collect it.

Efforts to get comment from him were unsuccessful, but his workmates confirmed that he had not come to the offices since he went to Harare last week, and they feared he had been fired.

Ncube has survived several attempts to fire him in the past four years for his paper's stance.

Last year he was grilled by CIO agents after he published a story exposing that athletes collapsed due to hunger at national youth games held in Hwange. The governor of Matabeleland North, Thokozile Mathuthu called Ncube to her offices and handed him over to CIO agents who threatened him over the newspaper’s stance.

Late last year, UMthunywa caused discomfort to Zanu PF when it published a photograph of a tractor parked at the home of Zanu PF supporter Stars Mathe in the high density suburb of Cowdray under the headline "Uthini ngalokhu uGono?" [What does Gono say about this?].

The paper said that the photograph was proof that people issued with free tractors under the government's mechanisation programme overseen by Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono were undeserving Zanu PF chefs who did not even have fields.

After the March 29 general election results were announced, showing the opposition winning control of parliament and Tsvangirai getting more votes than Mugabe, UMthunywa splashed with the headline: "Sebekhulumile abantu" (The people have spoken).

Further bold reporting followed. During Independence celebrations, the paper ran a story under the headline "Kuyini uzibuse?" (What is independence?), and detailed how people were suffering due to inflation and political violence in a free Zimbabwe.

In its issue preceding the Tsvangirai headline, the paper riled the authorities when it ran another headline story "Kuyini iBACCOSI? (What is BACCOSI?), in reference to a much-hyped government-sponsored basic commodity supply scheme where people get hampers at ridiculously low prices. The scheme has apparently been hijacked by politicians who get products for resale at higher prices.

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