Geoffrey Nyarota
| Geoffrey Nyarota | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1951 Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) |
| Nationality | Zimbabwean |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Organization | The Daily News |
| Spouse(s) | Ursula |
| Children | three |
| Awards |
Golden Pen of Freedom Award (2002) UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize (2002) |
Geoffrey Nyarota (born c. 1951) is an award-winning Zimbabwean journalist and human rights activist. Born in colonial Southern Rhodesia, he trained as a teacher before beginning his career with a Zimbabwean state-owned newspaper, The Herald. As editor of the state-owned Bulawayo Chronicle in 1989, he helped to break the "Willowgate" scandal, which resulted in several resignations from the cabinet of President Robert Mugabe.
When Nyarota was subsequently removed from his post, he spent several years teaching in exile before returning to open the independent Daily News. Bearing the motto "Telling it like it is", the Daily News swiftly became Zimbabwe's most popular newspaper. However, the paper also suffered two bombings, allegedly by Zimbabwean security forces. Nyarota was arrested six times and reportedly was the target of a government assassination plot. After being forced from the paper by new management in December 2002, Nyarota left Zimbabwe.
In exile in the United States, he began The Zimbabwe Times, an online newspaper. His memoir Against the Grain, Memoirs of a Zimbabwean Newsman was published in South Africa in 2006.
Nyarota was born in Southern Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe) to middle-class black parents in 1951. He later received a university education. He initially trained as a teacher—stating later that "in colonial Rhodesia the only job open to educated Africans was teaching"—and was posted at Inyanga in the country's east.
When The Rhodesia Herald newspaper announced that it was recruiting a small number of black trainees in 1978, Nyarota applied and was hired.
In 1989, he was editor of the state-owned Bulawayo Chronicle. The paper built a reputation for aggressive investigations into corruption at all levels of government, and Nyarota became "something of a hero". In the "Willowgate" investigation, Nyarota and deputy editor Davison Maruziva reported that ministers and officials from the government of President Robert Mugabe had been given early access to buy foreign cars at an assembly plant in Willowvale, an industrial suburb of Harare. In some cases, the cars were bought wholesale and resold at a 200% profit. The newspaper published documents from the plant to prove its case, including identification numbers from the vehicles.
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