Business almost came to a standstill in Harare’s central business district yesterday, as hundreds of people joined in celebrating 20 years of journalistic excellency and award-winning journalism at the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper.
BY OBEY MANAYITI
The colourful celebration kicked off with a clean-up exercise by Alpha Media Holdings (AMH), Zimbabwe Independent’s parent company, staff from 1 Kwame Nkrumah Avenue to Chinhoyi Street.
At the end of the cleaning exercise, Zimbabwe’s premier business and financial weekly, donated cleaning tools to Harare City Council.
After the charity work, it was time to thrill valuable readers and the public with numerous exciting activities at a procession that started off at Town House to Robert Mugabe way up to Third Street before turning into Jason Moyo back to Joina City.
People were wowed by skidding motor bikes and drag racing cars at different intervals during procession. The skidding cars were a marvel for hundreds of people, who had joined in the party, as they danced to music provided by ZiFM Stereo at the procession.
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The polished drum majorettes from Queen Elizabeth School were handy in the celebration, as readers had the opportunity to mix and mingle with AMH staff members, while members of the public won various prizes too.
Speakers hailed the Zimbabwe Independent for keeping good standards and providing cutting edge stories for the past 20 years that have always kept the government and other institutions on check.
Zimbabwe Editors’ Forum (Zinef) chairperson, Njabulo Ncube urged ZimInd to maintain its high standards.
“As Zinef, we join the Zimbabwe Independent in celebrating 20 years of excellence. It started 20 years ago, but our hope is that they will continue giving us the same service because Zimbabwe needs such journalism more than before,” he said.
“The current crisis bedevilling the nation needs such type of journalism. We want to challenge ZimInd, and the media as a whole in this country, to play its role in making the three arms of government accountable, as we seek to address the Zimbabwean crisis,” he said.
After the procession it was time for merrymaking at AMH offices, where the company rewarded long-serving members. AMH managing director and former Zimbabwe Independent editor, Vincent Kahiya chronicled the paper’s success story in 1996.
“As we celebrate our achievements, I strongly believe that we should keep our feet firmly on the ground. We remain humble to our founding principle and we continue focused on what we do best,” he said.
