HARARE – Journalists employed by Alpha Media Holdings (AMH), owned by publisher Trevor Ncube, were on Wednesday paid US$50 each, an amount initially presented as December salaries but later clarified to be a partial advance on January 2025 salaries that remain unpaid.
The payment has sparked anger and confusion within the newsroom, with staff saying the amount falls far below a living wage and does little to alleviate mounting financial pressures amid rising costs of living.
Sources within AMH told this publication that management later explained the US$50 was not a December salary, but rather a fraction of January earnings, despite the fact that January salaries have yet to be fully disbursed. December salaries, workers say, remain outstanding or were settled inconsistently.
The development comes at a time when journalists across the country are grappling with worsening economic conditions, delayed salaries, and shrinking newsroom budgets. For AMH employees, the token payment has been described as demoralising, particularly given the company’s public positioning as a leading independent media house.
“This is insulting,” said one journalist who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We are expected to work under pressure, produce quality journalism, yet we are being paid amounts that cannot even cover transport for a month.”
The situation has reignited debate around labour rights in Zimbabwe’s private media sector, where journalists often face precarious working conditions, delayed salaries, and weak contractual protections. Media watchdogs have long warned that poor remuneration leaves journalists vulnerable to exploitation and undermines press freedom.
Critics have also pointed to the contradiction between AMH’s editorial stance on governance, accountability, and workers’ welfare, and its own internal labour practices. “You cannot preach accountability to the state while normalising poverty wages in your own newsroom,” said a media analyst in Harare.
Attempts to get a comment from AMH management were unsuccessful at the time of publication.
The salary dispute adds to growing unrest in Zimbabwe’s media industry, where journalists continue to call for fair wages, transparency from employers, and respect for labour laws in a profession already operating under political and economic strain.
