Veteran journalist Bisanga is no more (RIP)

[BAK]

Veteran journalist Bisanga is no more

DAILY NEWS Reporter, 30th March 2009 @ 11:48​

A Former Chief-Sub-Editor with the Tanzania Standard (Newspapers) Limited, publishers of the 'Daily News'/'Sunday News', Hamidu Bisanga, died in a road accident in Dar es Salaam on Sunday night. He was 56. According to the deceased’s closest friend, Mr Tony Barretto, the late Bisanga died at around 10:30 pm at Kijitonyama, near the Millennium Towers on Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road after a lorry rammed into the car he was driving. “It was a sort of hit and run as the lorry never stopped. He was coming from Break Point – a popular eatery at Makumbusho area. He was then rushed to Mwananyamala Hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival,” explained Mr Barretto yesterday.

The deceased’s daughter, Khadija Bisanga, said the burial would be held today at the Kisutu cemetery in Dar es Salaam at 4 pm afternoon prayers. Hundreds of friends and well-wishers yesterday visited the bereaved family at Chisiza Close off Toure Drive, House number 1/11 to mourn the late Bisanga, otherwise known to his closest peers as “Hambis.” The Managing Editor of Tanzania Standard (Newspapers) Limited -- TSN, Mr Isaac Mruma, described the late Bisanga as an extrovert whose social contacts transcended age and status.

The late Bisanga, born in 1952 in Mwanza, joined the TSN in 1975 where he worked for 19 years, rising through the ranks to become the company’s Chief-Sub-Editor. A former Deputy Managing Editor with TSN, Mr Reginald Mhango, described the late Bisanga as a “charming, self made journalist who rose from humble beginning as a proof reader” with the defunct Printpak (T) Limited (1973 – 1975). After a 19-year stint with the 'Daily News', he joined the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) as the Chief of Public Relations and Communication (1994 – 1997).

He subsequently crossed to National Development Corporation (NDC) as the Public Relations Manager (1998 – July 2008) before moving to the newly established Bayport Financial Services in August 2008 as the Marketing and Public Relations Manager. The late Bisanga attended several in-house and international training in the US, Germany, South Africa and Kenya. He is survived by a widow, Tunu Bisanga and five children.