Zim licenses two daily newspapers

12 Mar 2009

Zimind Publishers, which publishes two weekly titles, The Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard, has been granted a licence to start a daily newspaper in the country, a move likely to mark the beginning of a new media era in the country.

Sources indicated that executives at the newspaper group would start a recruitment drive soon, with the daily newspaper, Newsday, expected to hit the streets before mid-year.

Sources within the group, majority-owned by Trevor Ncube, who also owns South Africa's Mail & Guardian, said a group editor would be tasked with assembling the editorial team.

Ncube was said to have partnered with telecommunications mogul, Strive Masiyiwa, in the newspaper project. The two already jointly own a newspaper printing press called Print Co.

Masiyiwa was a majority shareholder in the Daily News, which was closed by government and has unsuccessfully battled to win back its operating licence. Masiyiwa announced in 2006 that he had transferred ownership of the closed Daily News to an independent trust.

Reports also indicated that publishers of The Financial Gazette, a rival business weekly to The Zimbabwe Independent, had also been licensed to start a daily newspaper.

An executive with the group refused to confirm this, but admitted a daily newspaper had always been part of their expansion plans.

Modus Publications, publishers of The Financial Gazette, are likely to revive the Daily Gazette, the first post-independence newspaper that shut down due to viability problems in the early 1990s.