Obert Mpofu's newspaper, Southern Eye shuts down

TRANSPORT Minister Obert Mpofu's short flirtation with the country's media industry has come to an abrupt end.

Insiders late Tuesday confirmed that Wednesday's edition of the Zimbabwe Mail would be the last for the paper which hit the streets as a daily in late 2013 before transforming into a weekly in its last four editions beginning last month.

Members of staff were put on half salaries in September even as the minister was reportedly donating $70,000 to Zanu-PF party's congress in December.

The Mail, whose wage bill was said to be $30,000, failed to pay the half salaries for February although Mpofu still managed to donate $40,000 to President Robert Mugabe's birthday party.

Mpofu has reportedly complained that he was not getting any return on his investment in the publication, a problem he presumably does not suffer with his financial "investments" in Zanu PF and its leader.

The paper will be remembered for breaking the Salary-gate scandal weeks after its appearance.

Meanwhile Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) – publishers of NewsDay, the Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard will stop printing Southern Eye next month due to viability woes.

AMH editor-in-chief Vincent Kahiya on Thursday told the newspaper's staff in Bulawayo that as part of the organisation's cost-cutting measures, the paper would cease publication on April 1. He said lack of advertising and poor sales had contributed to the decision.

Some of Southern Eye's journalists will be reassigned to NewsDay and The Independent in Harare.

The editor Kholwani Nyathi, according to sources, will remain in Bulawayo leading a small team that will continue publishing the newspaper online.

Senior journalists from the organisation said the news was disheartening.