Founding editor of the Daily News, Geoffrey Nyarota has avoided civil imprisonment for failing to settle a US$60 000 debt he owed the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ).

On Wednesday, the lawyer representing ANZ, the publisher of the Daily News, told High Court judge, Judith Mushore that the two parties had reached an agreement before requesting that the case be struck off the roll.

“The last time we appeared in court, the case was postponed for parties to reach an agreement. I can confirm that parties have reached a settlement and we request that the case be struck off the roll,” said the lawyer.

However, Mushore asked the two parties to submit a written document showing consent before she remove the case from the roll.

Nyarota was hit with the lawsuit after he allegedly failed to fulfil agreement to pay a debt which arose back in 2016, prompting his civil imprisonment.

The High Court had ordered Nyarota to reimburse the publisher US$60 000 he pocketed after selling his website, Zimbabwe Times to the company back in 2019.

With his failure to pay the debt, ANZ had told the High Court that Nyarota was reluctant to settle the debt hence the High Court Judge, Amy Tsanga ordered Nyarota to reimburse ANZ after the website deal went wrong in December 2016. 

• Nehanda Radio