NamZim newspapers owe New Era N$8,3m

THE co-operation between government newspapers of Zimbabwe and Namibia is becoming increasingly costly to local taxpayers, with NamZim newspapers owing N$8,3 million for setting up and running the regional paper Southern Times.

‘It is uncertain whether this amount is recoverable,’ Auditor General Junias Kandjeke said in the latest audit report for New Era Publications Corporation, the State entity which publishes the daily paper New Era. Kandjeke’s report was tabled in Parliament last week.The information ministries of both governments agreed about six years ago to jointly set up a weekly newspaper for the southern African region funded with taxpayers’ money. Since then the Southern Times has failed to break even, let alone make a profit. New Era Publications Corporation advanced the lion’s share of the start-up capital and Zimbabwe has failed to repay its debt.New Era receives an annual Government subsidy of around N$5 million in to cover its running costs. According to the AG’s report, Government funding for New Era amounted to N$4,4 million for the 2008-09 financial year.Its expenditure for that year was N$21,3 million, while newspaper sales and advertising brought in N$16,2 million. New Era was in the red to the tune of N$548 973.On the other hand its assets like buildings and equipment showed an ‘accumulated surplus’ of N$7,3 million. These assets were valued at N$6,6 million in 2008 and with annual appreciation were worth N$7,3 by March 31 2009. The Auditor General criticised New Era Publications Corporation for not having paid over income tax deducted from its staff to the Receiver of Revenue from February 2009 to November 2009. It also did not pay Value Added Tax (VAT) to the Receiver during the same period.

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