Mnangagwa relative by marriage appointed to Zimpapers Board

The state-controlled Zimbabwe Newspapers (1980) Ltd (Zimpapers) has announced a new board chaired by former Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda's wife Doreen Joyce Sibanda.

Misheck Sibanda, who was replaced by Martin Rushwaya last year in September, is a relative and political ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

This makes Doreen a relative of Mnangagwa through marriage.

Rushwaya is also a relative of the President.

Doreen, who has served on several boards, is former executive director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.

She previously served on the Zimpapers board from 2014 to 2019.

Doreen also served on other boards including the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, NMB Bank, Great Zimbabwe University, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Women University in Africa and Postal Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) where she was also chair.

Doreen replaces the outgoing board led by veteran journalist and sports administrator Tommy Sithole.

Other new board members  include veteran media trainer who is an International Relations, Journalism and Political Studies researcher at Africa University, Potraz Director-General Gift Machengete, veteran journalist George Chisoko, NetOne group chief executive Raphael Mushanawani, lawyer Phillip Mbano, and financial expert Rutendo Mangudya, who is Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe John Mangudya's daughter.

Four other members including Zimpapers chief executive Pikirayi Deketeke, from the old board have been retained until the Annul General Meeting in June.

The publicly-owned listed Zimpapers is the oldest newspaper organisation and commercial printer locally, as well as the largest publisher, having been in the industry since 1891 - a year after Cecil John Rhodes' colonial Pioneer Column arrived in Zimbabwe.

Apart from newspapers, it also runs radio and online television stations.

Sithole, formerly editor of The Herald and Zimpapers editor-in-chief, has left after serving the group for decades on and off, leaving a largely great legacy with one rough patch.

Those who know Sithole well from a professional point of view speak of him in glowing editorial and management terms during his era, except specifically on the issue of Zimpapers editors' collective failures on Gukurahundi when they faced the most difficult challenge of their careers.

Zimpapers editors at the time have difficulties explaining how they handled that political hot potato.

Sithole, a liberation struggle cadre with Zanu-PF, was a basketball player in his youth.

A good story-teller, he became a prominent sports journalist, covering Olympic Games, World Cups, and the Commonwealth Games, among many other events.

In 1980, he was appointed Zimpapers editor-in-chief.

He would later serve as the group chair, beginning in 2019.

In 1983, he was approached the first black editor of the Bulawayo-based Chronicle at the height of Gukurahundi.

Sithole was an active member of the Zimbabwe Air Force and became Air Zimbabwe director. In 1982, he was elected as President of the Zimbabwean Olympic Committee. He also served in executive positions with the Confederation of Southern African National Olympic Committees, the Association of the Olympic Committees of Africa, and the Association of National Olympic Committees.

He led the organising committee for the 6th All-African Games in Zimbabwe in 1995.

Sithole was co-opted onto the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1996.

He served until 2003. He was on the IOC executive board between 2002-2003.

He stepped down as an IOC Member when President Jacques Rogge asked him to take over the position of Director of International Cooperation and Development for the IOC.

Sithole spent 12 years in that position (2003-2014), which also led him to become a deputy representative for the IOC at the United Nations.