DAILY NEWS FIRES STAFF

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 000315 SIPDIS AF/S FOR SDELISI, LAROIAN, MRAYNOR AF/PD FOR DFOLEY, CDALTON NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER, DTEITELBAUM LONDON FOR CGURNEY PARIS FOR CNEARY NAIROBI FOR TPFLAUMER E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2009 TAGS: KPAO PGOV PHUM PREL ZI SUBJECT: DAILY NEWS FIRES STAFF REF: HARARE 302 Classified By: Political Officer Win Dayton under Section 1.5(b)(d) ¶1. (C) The Daily News (TDN) editor Sam Nkomo and assistant editor Bill Saidi told the Ambassador over lunch on February 22 that the paper had fired 250 reporters and staff after they barricaded Nkomo in his office on February 19 to address various work-related issues (reftel). According to Nkomo, the paper retained an unspecified number of section heads and would allow the return of 40 of the 250 fired employees. TDN's South African-based Zimbabwean publisher Strive Masiyiwa had approved the measures. Nkomo confided that he had a list of an unspecified number of TDN staff who had been "on the payroll" of Information Minister Jonathan Moyo -- many of whom were from the paper's editorial staff. ¶2. (SBU) Nkomo advised that TDN would take its time in reinforcing its staff prior to publishing again, assuming the government permitted it to publish. He said the court's slow pace in deciding the consolidated appeals of its various legal cases would give it some time, during which it would retain a core group to continue its internet publishing and to prepare a reconsolidated work force. ¶3. (C) COMMENT: A difficult recruiting challenge now supplants a problematic labor situation at the embattled TDN, much to the delight of Moyo and many in the GOZ. Masiyiwa, a multi-millionaire who controls a highly successful international cellular telephone company among other things, had continued to pay full salary to the entire TDN staff during the five months the paper was shuttered by the GOZ. The staff, likely spurred by co-optees among them, chose to push for huge salary increases, nonetheless. The complexities of putting TDN back together have grown, just as Jonathan Moyo and his minions wish. SULLIVAN