By Own Correspondent- Namibian media has reported that The Southern Times which was a partnership between the Zimpapers  and Namibian government’s New Era Publications Corporation will be closing down next week .

The development has been attributed to 15 years of loss making.

Reports say the closure comes after a meeting held in Sandton in South Africa two weeks ago, where the shareholders agreed to wind up operations.

Workers at The Southern Times were told to  stop reporting for duty from next week Tuesday.

The Namibia government has been bankrolling the publication for more than 10 years while Zimpapers provided Editors and support staff. 

In the past four years alone, Namibia is reported to have spent more than N$60 million on printing costs, salaries and other expenses and the  monetary contribution Zimbabwe made was N$1,4 million in 2004 when the paper started operating.

The deal according to Namibian reports  was skewed in favour of Zimpapers as despite the limited financial resources put into the project by Zimbabwe, it enjoyed the privilege of taking prominent roles at the newspaper.