KEY POINTS
- Geoffrey Nyarota passed away at 74 after battling cancer.
- Tributes from fellow journalists highlight his role in press freedom.
- Nyarota’s legacy as a mentor and media freedom advocate lives on.
According to his family, veteran journalist Geoffrey Nyarota will be laid to rest on Wednesday at his rustic Rusape home.
Geoffrey Nyarota to be buried in Rusape on Wednesday
Prior to the funeral on Wednesday afternoon, Nyarota’s son Tafirenyika stated on Monday that his father’s remains will lie in state at the family homestead in Gwangwadza village on Tuesday evening. Following a fight with colon cancer, Nyarota, 74, passed away on Sunday.
According to News day, Nyarota edited a number of well-known Zimbabwean publications over his distinguished career, including The Financial Gazette, The Chronicle, The Daily News, and Zimbabwe Times. In addition, he wrote three books: The Honourable Minister: An Anatomy of Endemic Corruption, The Graceless Fall of Robert Mugabe: The End of a Dictator’s Reign, and Against the Grain: Memoirs of a Zimbabwean Newsman.
Nyarota’s legacy as mentor and champion of media freedom
As fellow journalists recalled Nyarota as a fierce champion of press freedom, tributes kept coming in.
Nyarota would be at the top of a hypothetical Zimbabwean media hall of fame, according to John Gambanga, who worked as news editor and then editor of Daily News while Nyarota was editor-in-chief at the African News Group (ANZ). According to Gambanga, “He demanded accountability from corrupt national leaders and fought for press freedom fearlessly.”
For many journalists, Nyarota was a mentor and a rock, according to former NewsDay editor Brian Mangwende. For numerous scribes, Geoff served as a mentor, pillar, and lighthouse. “He was a force to be reckoned with and a champion of media freedom,” Mangwende added. “We will always treasure his contribution to press freedom and his unwavering efforts for a free press worldwide. We have lost an icon.”
Journalist Sani Mbofana went on to say that without Nyarota, Zimbabwe’s media environment is worse. “His legacy is a potent reminder that a robust democracy requires a free and independent press,” Mbofana stated.
The SADC Parliamentary Forum’s media and communications manager, Moses Magadza, expressed his condolences, saying that the history of journalism in Zimbabwe after independence would not be complete without acknowledging “this fine pen pusher.”
Nyarota’s three children and wife, Ursula, survive him.
