I got my break at the beginning of 1975 when some journalists who had been writing for Moto started the National Observer. I only remember one, Raymond Chinamhora. I wrote a column for the weekly: Townshop Talk by the Boozer. I stopped writing the column the following year when the newspaper was bought by Zimpapers, then known as the Rhodesia Printing and Publishing Company.
I wrote briefly for The Rise. I think it was started by Chinamhora again. I also wrote for the Voice, a South African weekly paper that was sponsored by the South African Council of Churches, before joining Moto in 1980 when the ban on the paper was lifted by the transitional government led by Lord Soames that steered Zimbabwe to independence.
I had been sponsored by Mambo Press to do a course in journalism at the Christian College of Southern Africa in 1978 with the hope that we could join Moto if the transitional government, set up to steer Zimbabwe to independence, lifted the ban on Moto. The transitional government comprised Ian Smith who was still Prime Minister, Abel Muzorewa who led the United African National Council, Ndabaningi Sithole of the Zimbabwe African National Union (Sithole), and Jeremiah Chirau of the Zimbabwe United People’s Organisation. It did not lift the ban, so after a year at college, Mambo Press decided to part ways with us until the ban was lifted. My colleagues were John Gambanga, Takesure Matarise and Isabella Matambanadzo.
I quit Moto in August 1980 following a misunderstanding and became a full-time freelance journalist. I had a full plate, writing for the Daily Nation in Kenya, Radio Netherlands, Radio Deutsche Welle, Gemini News Service, the Catholic Herald, Africa magazine and Africa Press Service.
Senior journalists were quite generous at the time. I was given the Daily Nation string by Tim Chigodo and the Africa magazine string by Tonic Sakaike.
I joined The Chronicle in 1981 as most white journalists left for South Africa to join the Argus group, but continued to write for Gemini News Service and Radio Deutsche Welle. Through Gemini News Service I was commissioned to write for Africa Analysis. I also broke into the United States market when I was commissioned to write for the South-North News Service and World Report.
To be continued
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