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Stephen Ndlovu's Chronicle charade
As a purge looms at Zimpapers and other state media bodies following a Cabinet reshuffle, New Zimbabwe has been following the intense jockeying. Some state media journalists who have been doubling up as foot soldiers for the 'Third Chimurenga' face the chop. At the Chronicle in Bulawayo, Stephen Ndlovu has gone, but his departure has exposed a major scandal over the way he recruited journalists. An insider whom we shall refer to as John Mendeza reveals all
I LOVED every juicy detail you brought out about the rot at the Chronicle. I will focus on the dubious background of at least three of Stephen Ndlovu's henchmen.
Daisy Jeremani (Entertainment Editor) is a lesbian whose deeds former schoolmates will confirm. Her rise to the editorship of the entertainment desk was no feat based on merit. It was because she is related to Stephen Ndlovu, and if she has the mandatory 5 O' Levels now, the certificate needs a thorough going over by forgery experts. Ndlovu plucked her out of a Harare nightclub and planted her at the Chronicle, just like that!
She went on to demonstrate her incapacity to think on her own, by literally lifting entertainment and showbiz stories from the SABC and News 24 websites, knowing that a gullible and professionally corrupt uncle (Ndlovu) would accept them. It was to a point that when she was advised about the dangers of plagiarism in journalism, she did not take kindly to the advice.
It is known for a fact that she was the subject of a complaint by some models when Strides Botique took its model talent search to rural Tsholotsho last year. Strides owner Miss Mazibuko may not be keen to reveal what the concerned models told her, but it was the closest thing to molestation. I will not dwell into how Daisy and some lesbian friends used to spend their weekends in Barham Green and Southwold in late 2003.
I knew Elliot Siamonga as a liar and petty thief from the time he arrived here in Bulawayo as a reporter at the now defunct High Density Anchor. That he used to lie and say his wife was a nurse when she was only a general hand shows he likes keeping up a facade of false appearances. He dearly loved the "Scud", as he did buttoned-up suits, which he used to convince other people he was Bulawayo Editor of the Anchor. Like all liars, Elliot is unpredictable and irritatingly shifty. There was a time when he wanted all of us in Bulawayo to know that he was an ex-CID officer who was on secondment to the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).
Besides being overly pompous and unqualified, save for a few Environment Africa certificates on environmental reporting, Elliot soon gained notoriety for being a bad debtor, a reputation he maintains even to this day in his new post as Assistant News Editor.
| "Kamangeni Phiri is perhaps the only Zimbabwean vendor who rose from among the banana stalls in Torwood and Mbizo in Kwekwe to become the first semi-literate features editor" |
| JOHN MENDEZA |
I learnt from New Zimbabwe.com that he has been at the forefront of tribalising what is a simple power struggle at the The Chronicle and remembered that he also has problems establishing his correct ancestry. Before some people, he claims he is from Harare but before others he is an untainted Tonga from Binga and dearly loves the major crop they grow that side, the only difference being that he does not carry the ndombonda as his forefathers would have done, if he is Tonga at all.
In 2000, Elliot decided he had drank so much of friends' beer that he was forced to 'find' money to be the 'buyer' for just one Friday. So he sold the company cell-phone and called his editor, one Bunny, to say he had been mugged. He even fooled the police at Bulawayo Central Police station into writing a crime docket and promised to help them with investigations. Up to now he has not bothered to explain how an ex-CID officer seconded to the CIO could lose worthy property that easily to petty thieves.
The bottom line is that the CIO "officer" sold the handset, which was a Nokia 1610 phone, and we drank almost all the money at Gijima Night Club. He retained the line, which I am sure was Telecel, for almost a year and anyone who had the chance to peep into his wallet would see the line in the inner lining each time he opened the wallet to prove he was penniless!
He even contemplated selling it but refrained after being advised that the buyer would be arrested and point the police at him since the line was reported stolen and subsequently blocked. Through a combination of outright worship and boot-licking of Stephen Ndlovu, Siamonga burrowed his way into the Chronicle newsroom and made his debut with sexed-up headlines alleging non-existent racism at a number of private, mostly white-owned Bulawayo clubs. He pursued the same racist story ideas and became the source, author and commentator to allege racism in industry, and supporting Joseph Chinotimba-led company invasions while persuading Stephen to take him full time.
Kamangeni Phiri is perhaps the only Zimbabwean vendor who rose from among the banana stalls in Torwood and Mbizo in Kwekwe to become the first semi-literate features editor at The Chronicle as Ndlovu sought all relatives, praise singers and journalism rejects to fill up the newsroom. Anyone in Kwekwe will tell you that Ndlovu and Kama came to know each other well whileNdlovu was working for a Kwekwe based community paper way before he joined the Sunday Mail, and the 'Third Chimurenga' brought him to Bulawayo.
When Kama came to the newsroom, I had not really forgotten the man I had in 1999 assisted in pushing a battered old Toyota Cressida station wagon, which belonged to one Stephen Ndlovu (then at Sunday Mail) after a workshop at the Ranch Motel. The car took a lot of our energies and we did complain, but when the spluttering engine caught, the two men headed towards Kwekwe. The rest is history. Many friends within and outside the media field know the story of the tall, lean fellow who stood guard at the doors while Stephen "Chinotimba" Ndlovu drank his favourite whisky and entertained the strip-tease idols of Bulawayo.
The Stephen Ndlovu
charade must be undone at the Chronicle if the paper is to get back
to its glory days!
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