More details have emerged on how Chimurenga music legend
Thomas Mukanya Mapfumo’s maiden Peace Tour show failed to kick off in Gweru
last week.
The Standard Style sat down with the tour’s manager Denford
Kasambira to find out why the much-hyped event became a flop despite the
involvement of a host of experienced and professional personnel who manage the
itinerary of the United States-based musician.
It has since emerged that the hiccups started way before
the day of the show when the transporters of the stage from Harare failed to
secure diesel on time in order to travel timeously.
“First, there was the challenge of fuel. When holding such
shows, we usually set up everything a day or two before the event,” Kasambira
said.
“However, as for the Gweru show, we failed to secure diesel
on time and that led us to start travelling on the day of the show. This had an
impact of delaying the setting-up of the stage and the PA system.”
Having arrived late with the equipment, the organisers of
the show were sold a dummy by the Gweru Golf Club management regarding power
connections to the stage.
“The management had assured us that all would be well
before arrival of the stage only to realise at the last minute that the spot
where the set up was supposed to be done was actually 150m away from the
nearest electricity source,” he said.
“That brought another hiccup, we then needed to secure a
special cable for the connection.”
Further delays were experienced in trying to secure the
cable in Gweru and when it was finally found, another hurdle surfaced.
“The cable usually costs $200, but the only person from
whom we could buy the cable from in the middle of the night demanded US$1 200.
That was yet another challenge. Seeing that there was no option, we scrounged
for the forex and bought it,” he said.
At this stage things seemed to have normalised and though
it was already past midnight, the target was then to have Mukanya perform up to
early morning from 3am to about 7am. But yet another hurdle surfaced.
“After buying the cable, we finally faced the problem of
voltage. The voltage that was available was not enough to power the whole
system for the show and that was the final straw,” Kasambira said.
“It was a surprise to us because we knew Tuku [Oliver
Mtukudzi] had previously performed at the same venue without all these
hiccups.”
Efforts to contact management at Gweru Golf Club were
fruitless. In the wake of all this, political sabotage reports are
being thrown around amid claims that there was an organised plan to ensure
Mukanya did not perfom.
The 73-year-old has lately been belting out hits such as
Disaster, Chauya Chauya and Mamvemve, which portray the government in bad
light.
Mukanya is on a tour of 10 towns where he is performimg
under the banner Peace Tour. On Friday, he performed in Beitbridge and
yesterday he was in Masvingo. Standard
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