The Department of Immigration filed a complaint with the Media Complaints Committee (MCC) against the Financial Gazette over a story published by the newspaper on 4th-10th August 2016 headlined “Dangote Team denied Zim Visas”.
The Department of Immigration in its complaint states that a claim made in the article that “Dangote’s plans for a US$1 billion worth of investment in Zimbabwe could go up in smoke after the country’s Immigration Department denied visas to aides he wanted to dispatch into the country to expedite progress”, is false and misleading.
The Immigration Department in its complaint is concerned:
- The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) does not have an employee by the name of Farai Sadomba who is quoted as a source in the article.
- About the conduct of the reporter who reportedly did not follow through on his commitment to revert to the Department of Immigration to verify claims of visa and permit denials for the Dangote Group
- That negative consequences of this reportage tarnishes not only the image of the Department of Immigration but also the reputation of the Principal Director of Immigration, Clemence Masango.
The Department of Immigration is demanding a retraction from the Financial Gazette.
Status: Resolved
The MCC wrote to the Financial Gazette on the matter and the newspaper complied with the code by carrying a retraction and apology in its 25-31 August 2016 edition. The paper in its retraction clarifies and concedes there were no applications for either visas or permits by the Dangote group and therefore no such visas or permits were denied.
The paper also adds that Dangote Group representatives in Zimbabwe have not had any difficulty in processing either visas or permits at any given time.
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