Zimpapers
Zimbabwe Newspapers (Zimpapers for short) is a Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed media firm and commercial printer. It is the publisher of daily newspapers The Herald, The Chronicle, B-Metro and H-Metro. It has two Sunday newspapers, The Sunday Mail and The Sunday News. The company also publishes a provincial newspaper The Manica Post and has two newspapers in Shona and Ndebele namely; Kwayedza a Shona weekly in Harare and Umthunywa a weekly in Bulawayo. The company also owns a radio station, Star FM. Zimpapers also operates internet news websites named after the print titles.
The majority owner of the Zimpapers is Zimbabwe Newspapers Pvt Ltd, which is owned by Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust a government-owned Trust.
- Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust – 51.09%
- Old Mutual – 23.80%
- Intermarket – 3.38%
- NSSA – 3.10%
- Zimpapers Pension Fund – 2.28%
- EFE Securities – 1.53%
- Munich Reins – 1.04%
- Edwards Nominees – 11.36
- NNR& FCA - 0.91%
- Shara Sheperd – 0.82%
- Glenhazel Investments – 0.69%
Origins
The company was floated on 8 March 1927 as the Rhodesia Printing and Publishing Company Limited. It changed it's name in 1980 when Zimbabwe became independent and Zimbabwe Newspapers bought the titles from a South African publisher Argus Press after Independence in 1980 using a $5 million grant from the Nigerian government.[1]
Newspaper Division
The newspaper division is made up of three branches namely; Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare. The company publishes nine newspapers and two magazines as well as one regional newspaper (The Southern Times) on a joint venture with New Era of Namibia.
Branches and date of establishment
- The Herald 1891
- The Manica Post 1893
- The Chronicle 1894
- The Sunday News 1930
- The Sunday Mail 1953
- Kwayedza 1986
- New Farmer 2002
- Trends (2003)
- Zimbabwean Travel (2003)
- Umthunywa (2004)
- Southern Times (2004)
- H-Metro (2009)
- B-Metro (2010)
- Star FM (2011)
- BH24 (2013)
Commercial Printing Division
This division is made up of Natprint which is ISO 9001:2008 Certified.[2]
The Board
THE Zimbabwe Newspapers Group has appointed veteran journalist, aviation and sports expert, Mr Tommy Sithole as board chairperson with immediate effect. Mr Sithole replaces Mr Delma Lupepe, who left the diversified integrated media group after having joined as a board member in 2009, before assuming the chairmanship in May 2015. Mr Sithole previously served as Editor of The Chronicle, The Herald, Editor-in-Chief of Zimpapers and Business Development Director.[3]
- Chairperson - Tommy Ganda Sithole
- Board Member - Ms Primrose Ruvarashe Kurasha
- Board Member - Mrs Sibyl Madzikanda
- Board Member - Ms Tsungai Chibvongobve
- Board Member - Messrs Tatenda Chiweshe
- Board Member - Ladson Mhango
- Board Member - Dr Shingi Munyeza
- Board Member - Ms Rejoice Nharaunda
- Board Member - Karen Dube
- Chief Executive Officer - Mr Pikirayi Deketeke
- Chief Finance Officer - Mr Farai Matanhire
Criticism
In October 2013, Jonathan Moyo criticised the structure of Herald saying Zimbabwe had failed to build the media house with a Zimbabwean identity:
if you look at Zimpapers today its structure is as it was in Rhodesia as we speak right now. Still structured like that. It has some sense of a southern and northern part of the country and there is a belief that the northern part is more important than the southern part. Instead of viable business units, it uses branches as if it is a tree. We haven’t subjected it to an ideological shake-up that reflects the values, ideals and ethos of the new nation of Zimbabwe as a united nation, not one with southern and northern and branches and so forth. We inherited that.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jonathan Moyo The future of the media in Zimbabwe lecture, National University of Technology, Published: 22 October 2013, Retrieved: 30 January 2016
- ↑ , About Zimpapers, Herald, Published: No Date Given, retrieved: June 16, 2016
- ↑ [1], The Sunday Mail, Published: 18 August, 2019, Accessed: 24 June, 2020
