It happened well under the radar, but if you looked hard enough in January you would’ve found news that Zimbabweans living in South Africa were about to get a choice of two locally distributed newspapers. In February the first of these was launched by Wilf Mbanga, founder of Zimbabwe’s famously silenced Daily News. The Zimbabwean, as Mbanga’s new tabloid weekly is known, is now published in the United Kingdom with a Southern African edition produced in Johannesburg (the initial print run was 120,000 copies). Prior to launch, Mbanga issued a press statement that made his intentions clear: the paper would give voice to the “fears and frustrations” of exiled Zimbabweans.
“A news blackout is dangerous for any society,” Mbanga said. “The forthcoming general election scheduled for March adds urgency. We will ensure that our coverage is accurate, fair and balanced. We will be accountable to our readers. We will endeavour to give all viewpoints, and everyone – including the government of Zimbabwe – will have the right of reply. In short, we will do everything the government newspapers in Zimbabwe are not allowed to do.”
Which was a significant comment, given that the other paper about to go after Zimbabweans in South Africa is The Herald, Zimbabwe’s top-selling government daily. On a trip to Johannesburg to secure printing and distribution contracts with a “major South African group”, The Herald editor Pikirayi Deketeke was equally adamant about his own intentions. “This is not a propaganda mission, it’s a business mission,” he said.
Deketeke estimates that there are 3-million Zimbabweans living in South Africa. The number is way above the estimate of The Zimbabwean, which argues that there are more than 2-million Zimbabweans “living outside Zimbabwe in Southern Africa”. Irrespective of whether the difference can be ascribed to the difficulty of accounting for “illegals”, Deketeke is confident that he can reach a local circulation of 30,000 (one percent of his guess). The business model, he says, will be driven by copy sales. The newspaper won’t be taking South African advertising in the short-term.
Unlike The Zimbabwean, which will carry editorial specifically designed for the Zimbabwean diaspora, The Herald will be a full reprint of the edition produced in Harare. But still Deketeke denies that the goal is to push the Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF line in South Africa.
“It is not my job to change perceptions. It is not the role of The Herald to change the South African reader’s views of Zimbabwe. We are coming here as we believe there is a big market of Zimbabweans, as well as a big market of South African readers, who want a different view on what is happening in Zimbabwe.”
As for what constitutes this “different view”, Deketeke makes no apologies. “I have been a journalist for 19 years in Zimbabwe. To a large extent I agree with Mugabe’s views on certain positions. I am exercising my editorial right to express this agreement.”
Of course it could be said, with government paying the bills, it’s the editor’s job to agree.
“That’s a misconception,” says Deketeke. “Government- or state-owned newspapers in Africa differ from country to country. South Africa isn’t familiar with this form of ownership. From a technical perspective, we are not government-owned. Government only owns 51% of Zimbabwe Newspapers (1980) Ltd., through a trust, and they appoint the trustees. The South African company Old Mutual owns 20%, which they bought in 1980, although they have never taken an active interest. The company is publicly listed. We have never been given a grant or a subsidy from government. We actually pay a dividend to government. Last financial year we paid a dividend of Zim$1,2-billion.”
Then what about the fairly popular view that former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo was the de facto editor-in-chief of the titles in the Zimbabwe Newspapers stable?
“Anybody who has been a journalist would never believe that such an energetic minister would have the time to do that. From a technical perspective, it’s impossible. What occurred is that he was quoted in the government-owned media and not in the private media. Things were happening in Zimbabwe that required daily comment from government. Everybody, including South African media, Reuters, the BBC and so on, wanted Moyo’s view on events. He wasn’t talking to them. The only place you could get government’s comment was in The Herald.”
So presumably The Herald now becomes the only newspaper in South Africa where you can get the official Zimbabwean government line? In other words, a local mouthpiece for Mugabe?
“Look, Mugabe hasn’t blocked the selling of the Sunday Times and Mail & Guardian in Zimbabwe. People could say that those titles are propaganda vehicles for South African interest groups. By the way, the politicians actually do hold those views, but that’s the politicians. I’m a newsman, and I think there’s an opportunity.
“Competition is healthy and it’s not as if The Herald will be given away in South Africa for free. If Mugabe did directly fund the newspaper and wanted to use it as a mouthpiece, he would give it away. We are selling this thing.”
Another unavoidable point is that “this thing” isn’t being given away in Zimbabwe either. Every weekday between 75,000 and 90,000 Zimbabweans part with Zim$3,500 – the price of a loaf of bread – to buy one. Whether 30,000 Zimbabweans living in South Africa will do the same remains to be seen.
The alternative is to wait for the weekend and choose The Zimbabwean, but Mbanga has his own obstacles to overcome. “Obtaining independent news from Zimbabwe will be a challenge, as foreign correspondents are banned from entering the country,” he admits. Still, it’s clear his own inside source won’t be The Herald. “The various on-line resources, together with some radio stations, have done an excellent job in keeping the story alive since the silencing of the Daily News. We will be maximizing synergies with them.”