GEOFFREY Nyarota (GN) was a colossus in the media fraternity not only in Zimbabwe but also in the Sadc region.
His inimitable style as an intrepid investigative journalist has left an indelible footprint on Zimbabwe’s media landscape. He trod, without fear or favour, where angels feared to tread. As a result, he was revered and despised by many almost in equal measure.
My association with GN, as he was affectionately known by those who had the privilege and pleasure of interacting with him closely, goes back to 1969 at Goromonzi High School just outside Harare where he did his A’ Levels while I did mine at Fletcher High School near Gweru.
When I first met him, Fletcher High School soccer, basketball and tennis teams happened to be visiting Goromonzi High School for a scheduled annual sporting fixture. I captained my school’s tennis team while GN was one of the cheerleaders for his school, as he wasn’t the sporty type by any stretch of the imagination.
In March 1971, we linked up again at the then University of Rhodesia (now University of Zimbabwe) in Salisbury (now Harare) where he embarked on his Bachelor of Arts degree programme while I enrolled in the Bachelor of Law degree programme. It was during our interaction at university that we discovered our common passion for literature in both English and Latin.
After graduating from university, we pursued different careers. He made a huge impact nationally, regionally, continentally and internationally as an investigative journalist for, inter alia, exposing the shenanigans among Zimbabwe’s political elite in what became known as the much-publicised and notorious “Willowgate Scandal”.
Our paths crossed once again in July 1998 following the incorporation of Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) of which I was appointed non-executive chairperson while GN became the inaugural editor-in-chief and deputy chief executive officer with Wilf Mbanga as the chief executive officer. During 1999, the operations of ANZ started in earnest and, by sheer coincidence, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was formed in September 1999.
There was a lot of heavy lifting that GN had to do in the build-up to the eventual launch of the original Daily News in February 2000. In that regard, he was ably assisted by his team which included seasoned journalists of the calibre of, inter alia, Davison Smiler Maruziva, William (Bill) Sylvester Saidi, Innocent Muchemwa Kurwa, Tagwirei William Bango, John Gambanga and Thomas Deve.
- Tribute to Geoffrey Nyarota
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Regrettably, Mbanga opted to resign from ANZ, at its most critical juncture, to pursue other business opportunities. I was then prevailed upon to roll up my sleeves and assume certain executive responsibilities within ANZ to enable GN and his team to focus their energies in the trenches solely on establishing the Daily News whose motto was Telling it like it is.
GN was always at pains to assure the burgeoning readers of the newest and vibrant daily publication in Zimbabwe that the Daily News was neither pro-government nor anti-government but would merely provide a platform for vigorous debate among the diverse political, social, religious, ethnic and other groups within our beloved and yet beleaguered nation.
The much-needed conduit for alternative ideas was provided by the Daily News in the build-up towards the general elections that were scheduled to take place in June 2000. When the results were published towards the end of June 2000, the Daily News broke the proverbial glass ceiling with a daily circulation of 105 000 copies which eclipsed, by a country mile, the daily circulation of its main competitor, The Herald, which was established in 1891. As it turned out, the MDC won outright 57 seats out of the 120 seats that were up for grabs in the National Assembly.
There were electoral disputes between the MDC and Zanu PF over 38 seats. In this latter regard, the widely held belief among the political pundits was that the MDC was well poised to win 37 out of those 38 seats. If that had happened, then the MDC would have increased its tally from 57 to 94 seats out of the 120 seats. Regrettably, there was a serious dereliction of duty on the part of Justice Godfrey Guwa Chidyausiku, the then Judge-President of the High Court of Zimbabwe, as the electoral petitions for the disputed 38 seats never got set down for hearing and determination in the High Court. The fate of the electoral petitions for the disputed 38 seats was overtaken by events, as it were, following the general elections that subsequently took place in 2005.
On January 27, 2001, GN’s mettle was put to the acid test after the ANZ’s printing press was bombed and blown to smithereens. Despite this calamitous setback, GN and his indefatigable team somehow managed, within a day or two, to publish the Daily News, albeit in a truncated form, which sold out in record time following banner headlines emblazoned We are back!
The destruction of ANZ’s printing press necessitated a flurry of fund-raising initiatives regionally and internationally to restore the company’s in-house printing capacity as expeditiously as possible. GN and I managed to raise US$3,5 million largely on the back of GN’s proven credentials as an avowed champion of freedom of the Press. ANZ was thus able to replace the bombed printing press within a reasonably short period.
GN and other senior journalists played an invaluable role in the establishment of the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe during the mid-2000s and I was privileged to be appointed inaugural chairperson.
GN also helped quite considerably in the training of journalists via workshops that were sponsored by the Media Institute of Southern Africa throughout the Sadc economic bloc.
While he was in exile in the United States during the mid-2000s, GN pioneered the publication of the online Zimbabwe Times which tried, with varying degrees of success, to fill the void that had been created as a result of the banning of the original Daily News by the government in 2003. He prevailed upon me to become the chief proofreader and fact-checker because he was, as it were, far away from the madding crowd in Zimbabwe.
GN was a doer as opposed to a talker as evidenced by the four books he authored namely: Against the Grain: Memoirs of a Zimbabwean Newsman, The Graceless Fall of Robert Gabriel Mugabe, Honourable Minister and The Journalist As An Outcast: Perils of Investigative Reporting in Zimbabwe. Incidentally, I was privileged to have been asked by GN to proofread and fact-check all the books.
My heartfelt condolences go to his entire family, especially his wife, Ursula Virginia Nyarota (née Mari) and their three grown-up children, Tafirenyika Julian, Itayi Jethro and Rufaro Thelma plus their respective children.
Zorora Murugare Nyati Mudzimukunze\Lala Ngoxolo Mfondini.
I will forever cherish the way you always reminded me of my paternal roots in the Nyazura Rusape area of Manicaland by addressing me by either of my totems izibongo “Moyo” “Dhewa” “Chirandu” and “Bvumavaranda”.
