Geoff Nyarota, founder of Zimbabwe’s first independent daily, dies

The founder of Zimbabwe’s first independent daily newspaper, credited with opening up the country’s tightly controlled media space, has died aged 74, his family said on Sunday.

Geoff Nyarota had been battling cancer, his son Julian Tafirenyika Nyarota told AFP.

Launched in 1999, the newspaper The Daily News was the sole independent daily in the southern African nation for years, providing a critical voice against long-serving president Robert Mugabe, who stayed in power for more than three decades.

Nyarota and several of his reporters faced repeated arrests, with authorities accusing the paper of being a front for Western interests.

The newspaper also endured violence, with its offices and printing presses targeted in explosions in 2000 and 2001.

Media owner Trevor Ncube on X called Nyarota “a pioneering investigative journalist who will be missed by family and friends”.

Government spokesman Nick Mangwana said Nyarota was a “media giant” who “left an indelible mark on the country’s journalism landscape.”

Zimbabwe is ranked 116th out of 180 countries in the RSF 2024 World Press Freedom Index.

There have been notable improvements in the media industry since Mugabe was ousted from office in 2017, but persecution is still rife under his successor Emmerson Mnangagwa, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Zimbabwe’s High Court on Friday denied bail to a journalist arrested nearly a month ago after he interviewed a former ruling party veteran who said Mnangagwa should step down.