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Financial Gazette editor suspended
MISA-Zimbabwe
March 13, 2007

Firebrand journalist Sunsley Chamunorwa renowned for his hard-hitting editorials and commentaries at the helm of the weekly Financial Gazette has been suspended over a story reportedly involving the business interests of a strong ruling Zanu PF official.

Chamunorwa was suspended by chief executive officer Jacob Chisese on 12 March 2007 following publication of a story linking top Zanu officials among them the Governor for Mashonaland East Province Ray Kaukonde, to lucrative security contracts at Harare International Airport.

Although details of the nature of the suspension letter handed to Chamunorwa were still sketchy, journalists at the weekly financial publication believed to be owned by Reserve Bank Governor Dr Gideon Gono, confirmed to MISA-Zimbabwe that their editor had bade them farewell following a meeting on 13 March 2007 with the company’s management.

Chisese announced Chamunorwa’s suspension pending a final decision by the company’s board when he addressed members of staff saying the decision had been made in light of the law suits that the weekly is facing.

In its edition of 8 - 14 March 2007, the Financial Gazette led with a story alleging that three security companies with links to Zanu PF had their contracts cancelled after the Joint Operations Command which consists of top security officials had raised concern that the firms could have been used by senior politicians to facilitate the smuggling of minerals through Harare International Airport.

Sources close to developments at the company said Chamunorwa’s suspension over the airport security companies story was a smokescreen that was being used to scape-goat the pressure being brought to bear on the company’s board to push the editor out by certain powerful politicians.

The pressure was so intense to the extent of spilling to the registration and renewal of the paper’s operating licence notwithstanding the accreditation of its journalists by the state-controlled Media and Information Commission (MIC) in terms of the restrictive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

In an interview at the end of January 2007 MIC chairman Tafataona Mahoso reportedly confirmed to ZimOnline that his commission had not renewed the weekly’s licence but refused to be drawn to disclose further details. "It must be known that it is not an automatic renewal, there are things that we look at and get satisfied with before granting a licence and we are still looking at their application," Mahoso told ZimOnline then. He added: "We are not saying they will get a licence or not."

Newspapers renew their publishing licenses after every two years while journalists, who also require licenses to practice, must renew theirs after every 12 months. MISA-Zimbabwe has it on good record that the Financial Gazette’s journalists were still to be duly accredited as of 28 February 2007 following the expiration of the company’s operating licence on 31 December 2006.

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