Maputo — The Board of Directors of the company “Sociedade de Noticias” (SN), which owns Mozambique's oldest daily paper “Noticias”, has appointed as editorial director of the paper Jaime Langa, a man who, on his own admission, knows very little about journalism.

“Sociedade de Noticias” is technically a private company, but its main shareholders are state bodies, notably the Bank of Mozambique.

Langa replaces Rogerio Sitoe, one of the most experienced journalists in Mozambique, who has dedicated his entire professional career to “Noticias”. Sitoe confirmed to AIM that he had submitted a letter of resignation.

The reasons behind the resignation have not been made public, but last week there was speculation in the independent media that Sitoe would lose his job because of his critical reporting from Satunjira, the bush headquarters of Afonso Dhlakama, the leader of the country's main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo.

The new editorial director's only experience of journalism has been as director of a small publication. “Jornal de Negocios”, distributed by e-mail. Up until the Wednesday announcement, Langa was Councillor for Economic Activities and Services in the southern city of Matola.

According to a report in the independent newsheet “Mediafax”, Langa, when presenting himself to the paper's staff, immediately after he had taken office, admitted that he has little knowledge of journalism. He asked for the collaboration and support of all the paper's reporters, in order to maintain the quality of “Noticias” and not to defraud its readers.

The chairperson of the SN board, Esselina Macome, said Langa had been appointed “to dynamise the functioning of the paper”, while continuing to respond to the needs of the media market. She urged Langa to maintain the leadership position held by “Noticias” in the market, and to continue improving its content.

She praised the work undertaken by Sitoe during his ten years at the helm of the paper, stressing the modernization he had overseen, included the more user-friendly format of the paper, and the switch from black and white to colour printing.

Sitoe thanked all his colleagues on the paper, who had made his work possible, and urged them to provide the same collaboration to the new director.

Sitoe remains an employee of “Sociedade de Noticias”, and it is not yet known what new position will be offered to him.