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Hebert Zharare Political Editor
Alpha Media Holdings, the publishers of NewsDay, The Southern Eye, The Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard newspapers, has fallen on hard times amid reports Western donors who had been propping the group had cut funding in the wake of MDC-T’s dismal loss.AMH titles, along with the Daily News, flew the MDC-T flag ahead of the harmonised elections that saw the opposition party crash to its worst defeat since its launch in 1999.
Management has thus embarked on an exercise to retrench workers. This comes amid revelations by the Daily News yesterday that AMH which was failing to contain competition in the local media industry, was partly-owned by the US-based Media Development Investment Fund.
South African businessman, Iqbal Survé, who runs Sekunjalo Independent Media consortium, last month also threatened to expose that Mail and Guardian, also owned by Trevor Ncube, was allegedly funded in Washington by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), giving him leverage over other media houses.
Survé claimed to have “high-level” and “factual” information to substantiate that Ncube’s projects were being funded by the Americans, and in Zimbabwe’s case, with a view to influence illegal regime change.
Under its restructuring exercise announced on Wednesday, the company reportedly wants to reduce its wage bill for the more than 400 workers by at least 30 percent, a move that will see scores being forced to leave under yet to be disclosed exit packages.
However, sources told The Herald on Wednesday that morale hit rock bottom after AMH chief executive officer, Mr Raphael Khumalo, issued a statement the same day breaking the retrenchment news that will affect the editorial, advertisement and distribution departments.
Mr Khumalo argued that apart from the company’s digital first strategy and concomitant move towards a converged operation, which would streamline processes to avoid duplication as well as consolidating key activities, it was laying off some workers.
Some AHM workers on Wednesday confirmed that although the company was allegedly receiving money to buy newsprint and to finance operations, some of it was being diverted to non-core activities. “We are aware that we are donor-funded, but the money is being diverted and this is a top secret.
“Many people are willing to leave but they are waiting to see how the exit packages are going to be calculated. Many workers suspect that once that first tranche is released, the remainder will never come.
“The information we have received is that the company wants to cut the wage bill by at least 30 percent. The convergence they are talking of will see one team of reporters and advertisement working for all the papers. Mind you, all these papers had their editors, assistant editors, line managers and some reporters,” he said.
Another worker said there was nothing voluntary with the retrenchment because there were some people who had already been targeted whether they wanted to leave or not.
They argued that what made it disturbing was the fact that this was coming after the workers went for over three years without salary increment or receiving bonus.
“What angers the workers most is that the company is top heavy and of late they have been hiring expensive people with titles such as ombudsman and commercial directors, among others, being created.
“There are no salary structures like what happens in other companies; your salary is determined by such factors as who you know and who recommended you for employment. That is the reason why there were many cases of bribery recently” he said.
In an interview on Wednesday, Mr Khumalo confirmed the retrenchment, adding that following the publication of the statement, many workers came to enquire on how the policy would be implemented.
“We cannot give the figures of people who are going to be affected because the process is voluntary. We are ready to give the affected workers their dues,” he said without explaining the retrenchment formula.
Most companies give three months salary multiplied by the number of years served. Mr Khumalo tried to dismiss reports that AMH and the Mail and Guardian were being funded by the Central Intelligence Agency.
“We are different from the Mail and Guardian. We have made public our shareholding. When we commissioned our printing press, we said among the investors we had American investor, Media Development Investment and we got Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe approval.
“As for the Mail and Guardian, I cannot speak on its behalf. We have not received funds for newsprint, machinery and for operations from the CIA. We do not even know where their offices are,” said Mr Khumalo.
In his statement on Wednesday, Mr Khumalo said the restructuring exercise was meant to ensure that all parts of business were working optimally towards providing value for money for readers and advertisers on its print, mobile and online platforms.
“The key to the restructuring exercise will be the converging of newsrooms of its four titles to eliminate duplication and better utilise the editorial talent in the group.”
Following the restructuring exercise, some positions within the organisations would be made redundant and that staff would be reassessed in line with the company’s digital first and converged newsroom strategy and that voluntary severance was being offered as an option to right-size the media house and to manage costs.
AMH recently suspended the editor of its flagship title NewsDay, Constantine Chimakure, for “publishing falsehoods”.
Online Reporter