Described in some circles as ‘Zimbabwe’s media hangman’
Mahoso (65) was unpopular with civic society and advocates for media freedom
and plurality, who accused him of being used by the repressive Robert Mugabe
regime to frustrate the growth of the media industry.
Mahoso was appointed chairman of the MIC in 2003 at the
time the government was using the now-repealed draconian Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) to silence private media and served until
2008 when he was removed from office following a court judgement that he was
politically-biased.
He was later controversially reappointed to a Zimbabwe
media board in October 2009.
During his tenure at MIC Mahoso was behind the closure of
The Tribune and its sister newspaper The Weekend Tribune and was also accused
of fighting to deny a licence to ANZ, publishers of the Daily News, which had
been shut down by the government.
In 2010, during the coalition government era, the former
Harare Polytechnic lecturer was controversially appointed ZMC chief executive.
ZMC, which has already started scouting for a new chief
executive, confirmed Mahoso’s imminent exit from the commission.
“That’s true,” said ZMC chairperson, Professor Ruby
Magosvongwe, adding Mahoso will be leaving in March month-end if all goes well.
Prof Magosvongwe said Mahoso who has been with the
commission since its inception had already run his “good race,” adding it was
time to inject new blood into the organisation considering the media industry
keeps evolving.
“Not that old people do not have what it takes, no,” said
Magosvongwe.
“We are saying, we train, we develop, we pass on the baton
and it carries on and on.
He is not being retired, he is going on retirement. He has
always looked forward to retiring, even if you were to talk to him, he has
always looked forward to it.”
Magosvongwe added: “We have engaged him on the subject from
the time we got in as a board and he has always expressed willingness to go on
retirement. It’s only that the whole idea of institutional memory is critical.
He has been at the helm which means he has been the one who holds the memory of
the development of the entity from inception to where it is now.”
In a recent vacancy notice, the ZMC board said it was
seeking to recruit a holder of a Masters or Ph.D. degree in Journalism,
Communication, or any other social science degree with at least 10 years of
experience to lead the commission urging qualifying Zimbabweans to apply. Cite.org.zw
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