Condolences pour in after veteran sports journalist Michael Kariati’s wife dies

HARARE – Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) senior sports journalist Michael Kariati has lost his wife.

Kariati announced the heartbreaking news in a WhatsApp group on Monday morning, where members, including Herentals owner Innocent Benza, immediately expressed their condolences.

“My wife has passed on,” wrote Kariati.

Responding to the message, Benza said: “Ok my brother. I’m really sorry for your loss. My condolences.”

Across various WhatsApp groups, members of the football fraternity have been sending their condolences to Kariati and his family.

The funeral is being held at 1877, 3rd Close, Warren Park, Harare.

Kariati is one of the country’s best-known sports writers, with more than 29 years in sports journalism and broadcasting. He began his career in 1993 as a sports writer for the Sunday Gazette.

He later became sports editor at The Standard, where he still writes the long-running Inside Sport column and contributes regularly to the paper’s sports pages.

Kariati has also served as group sports editor for the now-defunct Sunday Mirror and Daily Mirror and has written for Parade magazine and the Daily Gazette. He worked as a stringer for Voice of America’s Studio 7, covering sports and occasional entertainment news.

He was named Zimbabwe’s Boxing Writer of the Year in 1994 and 1998 and won the 2001 CABS/Old Mutual Golf Writer of the Year award.

Kariati covers a wide range of sports, including cricket, tennis, soccer, boxing, bodybuilding, gymnastics, motor racing, track and field, and swimming.