A LONG-SERVING journalist and former ‘Daily News’ Chief Sub Editor, Mr Gabby Mgaya (pictured) has passed on in Dar es Salaam on Thursday.
Mgaya (68), died yesterday around 3 pm after battling illness for the past six months, according to Mr Anacreto Pereira, a nephew to the deceased.
Mr Pereira told the ‘Daily News’ yesterday that before his death, Mzee Mgaya was receiving treatment at the Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) in Dar es Salaam as an outpatient.
“He died while at home at Mongo la Ndege in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam. We are now making arrangements to transfer his body to MNH mortuary,” he said.
However, Mr Pereira could not provide further details about funeral arrangements pending first family meetings.
Mgaya, born in 1953 in Muheza Tanga, worked for the Tanzania Standard (Newspapers) Limited (TSN), publishers of the Daily News, Sunday News, HabariLeo and HabariLeo Jumapili.He initially worked for the TSN from 1972 to 1979, then left for other undertakings and then rejoined the company from 1994 until his retirement in 2013.
From 1994, Mgaya held the position of Sub-editor until 1997, when he was transferred to Zanzibar as Bureau Chief for the Isles until 1999 and recalled back to the Head Office in Dar es Salaam to hold position of News Editor.
In 2006, he was promoted to the post of Assistant Editor and later became Chief Sub Editor until his retirement in 2013.
TSN Acting Managing Editor Tuma Abdallah described his death as a big loss in the media industry.”I personally was received by Mzee Mgaya when I started job as a journalist. He was a competent journalist with high capability,” she explained.
Serving in the capacity of news editor and sub-editor, Mgaya was always ensuring accuracy in a story and it didn’t matter how long he took to go through it.
“He could spend so much time going through a page only to ensure that he clears all errors since he was very competent in English language,” Ms Tuma said in her eulogy.
She further described the late Mgaya as a cool person, who helped many journalists grow in their journalism career.