The Sunday Mail
YOU must be dying for an apology aren’t you?
Well here it is, we are sorry Wicknell Chivayo.
We are sorry we won’t be joining your army of bootlickers by apologising for running a factual story that Warriors coach Kallisto Pasuwa has gone for two months without being paid in our last edition of The Sunday Mail.
And we will not be apologising, either, for the “tone” of that story by Ishemunyoro Chingwere.
At The Sunday Mail we don’t lick booty, big or small, rich or poor.
Wicknell, you remind me of a chap I grew up with; I have forgotten his name so for ease of reference let’s just call him Munodaani.
Munodaani only made the football team because he owned the ball and everyone had to watch what they said to him because he would take his ball and run home the moment he got miffed.
ALSO LISTEN TO WICKNELL’S INTERVIEW WITH STAR FM
The way you reacted to the story we carried last Sunday brought to the fore your spoilt brat tendencies and reminded me of Munodaani.
You decided to terminate your Warriors sponsorship because the story on Pasuwa made you angry? The decision announced on Facebook of all platforms?
You are a big, fat joke.
But I don’t blame you.
I blame some journalists who have made you the star of the Warriors show, the journalists you have made you believe that they can control what gets published by The Sunday Mail.
Well Wicknel, hatiite zvemagroup, we don’t draw comfort from being part of the majority. We draw comfort from truth.
In the childish rant against Ishemunyoro, it was clear that you were used to PR disguised as journalism, that you are accustomed to having your ego massaged.
“I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to write such an article. Unofa uchitambura mupfanha. Instead of getting close to rich people you want to fight them.
“You are an idiot. You think ndingashaye $7 000 to pay the coach. My pair of Giuseppe Zannotti shoes cost $7 000,” reads one of those WhatsApp messages.
Apparently money has not bought you proper syntax neither has it given you common sense.
Sponsoring the Warriors does not make you immune to criticism.
It must be remembered that you are not the first individual to sponsor the Warriors, before you there was Prophet Walter Magaya.
And unlike you Wicknel the football loving prophet brought much more than money.
Magaya brought along the annointing he carries and prayed for the team.
But even him too The Sunday Mail criticised when we felt something was not right. And guess what? There is not a single day that Magaya threatened to walk away from the team at their hour of need because he was angered by the Press coverage he received.
There is nothing special about you, Wicknell.
If bootlicking you is what some describe as national interest, we are ready to be charged with treason.
It’s regrettable that you have decided against sponsoring the Warriors but we will not compromise ourselves just to make you happy.
And you better get used to such coverage if you decide to continue being associated with the Warriors, we will praise you when you do well and call you out when there is a mess up.
Never will we bootlick you, spin your mistakes as masterstrokes just because you sponsor the Warriors.
In our view there is something terribly wrong with journalism that makes you the star of the show at the expense of the players who do the business on the park.
We don’t see why we should splash your over blown picture on our sports pages while ignoring one that shows Elisha Muroiwa making a timely tackle.
We have a brand to protect, the late Tinaye Garande would turn in his grave if we were to stoop low to a level where we churn out puff pieces aimed at rubbing your ego in return for God knows what.
Quite interestingly in all your Facebook rants who have not told us that Pasuwa was paid and that our story was not factual.
For the benefit of our readers we knew about Pasuwa’s salary situation as soon the team returned from Swaziland but we thought it prudent not to break it on the eve of the Easter Monday clash.
The need to safeguard our national interests informed that decision. We didn’t want to rock the boat.
However, keeping quiet about it after the return leg against Sihlangu would have been act of fraud on our part.
You may know much about fraud, Wicknell.
“News is something someone wants suppressed. Everything else is just advertising,” one Lord Northcliff famously said.
In reporting about the Pasuwa salary situation we are convinced we ticked the box that gets us paid, we are convinced that we practiced journalism that would make Garande smile wherever he is.
There is life after you Wicknell.
Yes, you have done well in sponsoring the Warriors but that good work does not make you immune to criticism. It does not make you a god and neither does it make you the owner of the national team.
Your “I will pay my players” statement is sickening. They are not your players. They are Zimbabwe’s Warriors.
Don’t claim sole ownership of a national asset just because you are sponsoring them.
And oh yeah the guys from this newsroom saw your Facebook post in which you promised truckloads of beer and soft drinks when we hold our Christmas party.
Their message is loud and clear. We are not your journalists!
