HARARE – The Zimbabwe Independent’s deputy editor Brezhnev Malaba is leaving after three years, continuing an exodus by senior editorial staff from Alpha Media Holdings-owned titles.
Malaba bade farewell to staff at the business weekly on Wednesday, but he told colleague he was “too young to retire.”
Malaba told ZimLive Media he would be making an announcement soon “about how my professional journey will proceed,” adding: “Change is the only constant in life.”
Malaba was previously editor of the Sunday News, The Chronicle and The Sunday Mail. He also worked as a foreign correspondent for the African Independent and The Star (South Africa) newspaper.
The journalist recently published a 90-page investigative report into Southern Africa’s Debt Conundrum commissioned by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa.
Malaba’s exit comes after the newspaper’s former editor Dumisani Muleya quit in October last year after rejecting a lesser role.
AMH’s digital head Nqaba Matshazi quit last month to join the Media Institute for Southern Africa.
NewsDay’s features and lifestyle editor Phillip Chidavaenzi and news editor Yvonne Gasura have also handed in notices that they are leaving at the end of July.
AMH’s online desk has reportedly been depleted after John Mokwetsi, Tapiwa Zivira and Tinotenda Samukange all quit, ZimLive understands.
AMH is owned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s adviser Trevor Ncube. Ncube is also in partnership with Mnangagwa’s son-in-law Gerald Mlotshwa who is sponsoring his YouTube show, In Conversation With Trevor.
The exodus comes as the media industry reels from the economic shock of the coronavirus and a weak currency that has shrivelled salaries.
