Ruvheneko tenders resignation letter
RUVHENEKO Parirenyatwa, the former programmes manager at ZiFM Stereo, is hurt.
While she may not necessarily be bitter that The Platform – a current affairs programme which she hosted well had to be taken away from her, she is gutted to say the least.
The vivacious young lady who is also the daughter of Health Minister David Parirenyatwa, oddly finds herself in an unfamiliar position where she has to accept her circumstances and move on.
One would think that things would have been rosy for her considering that her father is a fellow minister in the same cabinet with Supa Mandiwanzira, her former boss. Yet not.
According to sources close to the urban station, there has been a lot of fighting within the corridors at the organisation.
Last week, AB Communications announced major changes where Ruvheneko was given an unspecified senior position within Mighty Movies – a clear demotion which she refused to take up.
She instead tendered a resignation letter, citing a frustrating working environment as the reason for her resignation.
“This letter serves to thank you for growing me as a media practitioner since the early part of 2012 and to inform you that I am resigning from all/any titles within the AB Communications Group that have been offered me,” read Ruvheneko’s resignation letter.
Ruvheneko said although she has been in a managerial position since January, the station was no longer home to her ever since she was taken off air in May.
“ZiFM Stereo is no longer my ‘ home’. I’m leaving because I don’t work – I hate work; I do what I love and I love what I do. Once that equation changes and what I do feels like a ‘job’ then it means we’ve lost each other.
“I work from the heart – I own what I’m doing like a shareholder as opposed to an employee,” she said.
While the public judge had ruled the Tafadzwa Musarara issue as the reason for her departure and falling out of favour, she said that had been dealt with although Musarara was suing her for a staggering $200 000.
Ruvheneko however, said her fight with her ZiFM Stereo employers started last year and had escalated over time.
“The bone of contention between ZiFM Stereo and I started last year. It’s really been spiralling to where we are today. Publicly, I’m no longer on air since they took The Platform away from me which was my heartbeat for a long time.
“So with that gone, a position in management was great, but it didn’t fulfil me. I’m a media personality and with that microphone gone, I was losing myself,” said Ruvheneko.
“So the move to TV was discussed and it happened, which was great! However, the day-to-day working environment at AB Communications was no longer suited for me for reasons I don’t need to disclose because they’re none of my business anymore.”
To prove that the honeymoon was over at the radio station, ZiFM management reportedly dumped the Musarara case on Ruvheneko and left her to handle it.
“Musarara has sued me for defamation for $200K. Summons from the High Court came. It’s a case underway so I’d rather not discuss it at this stage.
“However, the organisation has given themselves nothing to do with it; they distanced themselves from it so it’s directly between Musarara and I,” she said.
While Ruvheneko was a darling on radio, some felt she was too aggressive whenever she had limited understanding for a given subject and often pushed the guest too hard.
But the radio and TV personality said those were just people’s opinions that she did not have to respond to.
“I don’t have to have an opinion about every opinion about me. I’d go crazy.
“What I do know for a fact is this: if I was a man doing what I do, I wouldn’t be called “aggressive” so this question is difficult to answer in a society that’d rather attack my knowledge on a subject in a couple of interviews than see that my style of questioning is not unique if placed on a global stage.
“I push for answers because when you come to a talk show as a guest, expect questions because we expect answers. Otherwise why are we here?” she quizzed.
There have also been reports of heavy handedness to subordinates since her appointment to a managerial position but Ruvheneko simply said: “I’ve nothing to say to that besides: that’s interesting”.
She said although she owed a lot to AB Communications she was ready for the next chapter of her life. — Showbiz