Soul Jah Love died on Tuesday night upon arrival at a local
hospital. He was 31. The liberation hero
will be buried on Saturday at Warren Hills cemetery in Harare.
In a statement, Zanu PF Secretary for Administration Dr
Obert Mpofu said, “His Excellency, the President and First Secretary of Zanu
PF, Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa has conferred a Liberation Hero status to the late
Cde Soul Muzavazi Musaka who passed away on February 16 at Mbuya Dorcas
Hospital. The family can be contacted through our Harare Provincial office.
“I shall be most grateful if you would make the usual
arrangements for his burial and payment of benefits to his family. He is from
Harare Province.”
The decision to honour Soul Jah Love, a talented musician
who epitomised the struggles of most youths and rose against adversities, was
welcomed by various political parties.
Zanu PF acting secretary for Youth Affairs Cde Tendai
Chirau described Soul Jah Love as someone who was dedicated to the well-being
of his country.
“We acknowledge with heavy hearts, news of the untimely and tragic demise of one of the country’s emerging mega-talents in the arts industry, youthful Zimdancehall artiste Soul Musaka, otherwise affectionately known by his stage moniker, ‘Soul Jah Love’, at the tender age of 31.”
Cde Chirau said Zimdancehall is one of the most visible products of Zanu PF’s Government deliberate drive to promote local content in the arts industry in order to raise the consciousness of the youths and empower them to realise their potential in the creative arts industry.
Zanu PF Harare Province chairperson Cde Godwills
Masimirembwa said Soul Jah Love subscribed to the values of the country’s
liberation struggle.
“The province requested the party leadership to confer him
with a hero status for the role he played as a young man throughout his life he
subscribed to the ethos, values of the liberation struggle.
“Soul Jah Love was very vocal in supporting the birth of
the New Dispensation in particular His Excellency President Mnangagwa. It is on
the basis of his consistence that he deserves the honour, although he was not
part of the liberation struggle, we pass on the button to the younger
generation. Soul Jah Love was in Zanu PF
structures. MDC spokesperson, Mr Witness Dube described the conferment of hero
status to Soul Jah Love as “befitting”.
“We applaud the decision to grant hero status to Soul Jah
Love, this shows that our Government is recognising talent in its diverse
forms, including from artistes, this is indeed a great honour which we all must
celebrate,” he said.
MDC Alliance national youth secretary general Gift Ostallos
applauded the conferment of liberation hero status on Soul Jah Love saying, “He
is a hero by virtue of his contribution to the arts industry.”
He said the nation must acknowledge the contribution of
young people across the political divide who did not participate in the
liberation struggle but excel in other fields. Herald
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