Cash-strapped Zimpapers ordered to refuse Tsvangirai adverts

Published: March 6, 2009

Harare (ZimEye) – The cash-strapped State-run Zimpapers which published the Herald and the Chronicle has been ordered to shun a 12-page MDC supplement.

The move has seriously angered Zimpapers who have gone for over two months without receiving salaries.

Management officials at Zimpapers said the 12 page supplement was likely to generate about US$25 000 but the President Robert Mugabe’s administration barred the adverts.

The supplement was a congratulatory advert on the appointment of MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai as the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.

Sources said the supplement did not go down well with Mugabe whose supplement on his 85 birthday was shunned by advertisers.

Mugabe’s supplement only attracted two pages.

“The company was going to generate a lot of money, amounting to US$20 000 although the Mugabe regime thwarted our efforts to raise money,” said a senior sales executive at Zimpapers.

He blasted Zanu-PF for frustrating efforts to generate funds when it was not going to assist the company to pay workers and buy newsprint.

“The main reason why we couldn’t flight the adverts is because Mugabe’s supplement was ignored by the businesspeople. Surely why should we suffer for other people’s sins, we need to raise money and feed our families. I think the move to bar Tsvangirai’s supplement was selfish,” said the source.

The sales executive added that the supplement was handed to the Herald House Thursday afternoon but was withdrawn later following instructions from Mugabe’s wordsmith, George Charamba.

Zimpapers has been struggling to pay workers and only awarded journalists a monthly salary of Z$4 000, sparking an outrage from the scribes.

The scribes demanded that the company’s management buy them groceries using the Z$4 000.

Journalists at Zimpapers have turned to illicit activities including ferrying commuters known at the company circles as “project” as well as demanding bribes.
(ZimEye, Zimbabwe)