Vice President Constantino Chiwenga is reportedly behind the ouster of CapitalkFM station manager Napoleon Nyanhi aka Napster and presenter Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa from the Zimbabwe Newspapers Group-owned radio station.
Nyanhi was sent home after the radio station opened phone lines on August 1 when soldiers shot and killed 6 protesters in Harare. Parirenyatwa was allegedly fired after an interview last Wednesday during which her guest, National Patriotic Front’s Jealousy Mawarire criticised Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and British ambassador to Zimbabwe, Catriona Laing.
Chiwenga is reported to have been alerted of the August 1 phone in authorised by Nyanhi before calling a senior Information Ministry official. A source familiar with the exchange told ZimLive.com Chiwenga angrily asked over the phone: “What is this CapiTalk?” And on being told that it was “one of our radio stations”, he asked: “What are they trying to do?” Chiwenga reportedly demanded that the station be shut down, and Zimpapers bosses immediately asked Nyanhi to “go home and lie low”, in the hope the crisis would blow over. On August 23, Nyanhi was finally informed by Zimpapers that those in Government, wanted him gone. Ruvheneko told ZimLive.com that she had resigned over the weekend, although insiders said she had come under intense pressure after the Mawarire interview.
More: ZimLive.com