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ZUJ President, Matthew Takaona fired
Media Institute of Southern Africa - Zimbabwe Chapter (MISA-Zimbabwe)
March 08, 2004

Mathew Takaona, the president of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) was fired by his employer Zimpapers following a meeting he held in January with the workers from the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) who are facing retrenchment.

Takaona who was the acting news editor at the Sunday Mail was notified of his dismissal on 4 March by management at Zimpapers.

“I can confirm that I have been dismissed by Zimpapers. My conscience is very clear, I was trying to help my fellow colleagues who are now jobless,” said Takaona.

The ZUJ’s acting secretary general, Brian Mangwende has castigated Zimpapers management for taking this move which he described as set to destroy the media by instilling fear in those working for the state media.

He said the allegations against Takaona were not only frivolous and malicious, but seriously dented all fruitful endeavours to restore freedom of expression.

“We are fully behind Mathew and we will not rest until we expose all those who are behind the scenes limiting freedom of expression. .

Mathew met the retrenched Daily News workers so that ZUJ could represent the interests of the journalists who are now in the cold, with no formal employment and no source of income.

BACKGROUND
Management at the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) resolved to retrench the bulk of its workforce.

The chief executive of the ANZ, Mr Samuel Sipepa Nkomo on 23 January told a press conference that the retrenched workers would be given retrenchment packages. Nkomo said the retrenchment was been caused by the financial problems the media house is facing amid demands for salary increments from workers.

Mr Nkomo said out of nearly 300 workers employed by the company only between 40-50 would be left after the retrenchment exercise.

The retrenchment exercise came after the Supreme Court postponed to March 3 a hearing to determine whether the ANZ complied with the provisions of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

The Supreme Court reserved judgement indefinitely in the ANZ case after hearing the submissions from both Media and Information Commission and ANZ.

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