For entrepreneur and showbiz benefactor, Bright Sibanda, who is widely known in local circles as Biggie, the showbiz industry has an important role to play in shaping the economic discourse of Zimbabwe and local artists must complement efforts by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Harare administration towards the attainment of Vision 2030.
Biggie, who has vast business interests in Redcliff and Kwekwe, is, without any shred of doubt, one of the most notable music promoters to have emerged from the Midlands Province in recent years.
The soft-spoken arts benefactor has since become the proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs for a number of budding artists and wheel-spinners from, especially, Rutendo suburb and other surrounding environs in Redcliff and Kwekwe towns.
His fast-rising joint, Pagomo in Redcliff, has since become the place of choice for not only imbibers and merrymakers alike, but also artists drawn from across various parts of the entertainment crazy landlocked southern African nation.
A staunch admirer of local music talent, Biggie Sibanda told our reporters in an exclusive interview that local artists must consider themselves active and significant players for a prosperous Zimbabwean economy.
“All that has been lacking in the music landscape is having professional artists who are driven by sheer patriotism and undying love for their Motherland.
In Europe, the showbiz sector has made significant contributions in the economic survival of their respective countries and I don’t really believe that there is anything that stands as a hindrance for our artists who are equally talented,” said Biggie.
According to Sibanda, there’s every need for local artists to treat their self-serving motives as largely secondary to Zimbabwe’s broader national interests.
“I have often heard some well-to-do artists complaining about the economy, but they all seem not to have any clue about the roles they are supposed to play to make a positive contribution towards a prosperous economy.
“We need patriotic artists who are conversant with the country’s economic blueprints such as Vision 2030.
Added Biggie:
” The late Comrade Chinx is one such artist who really had his heart for the country. Artists must be at the forefront in our collective pursuit of building Zimbabwe- brick by brick”.
The country’s showbiz sector has been reeling under the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic as most artists haven’t been holding musical concerts which significantly contribute towards their financial wellbeing.
Since time immemorial, serious concerns have been raised over the welfare of local musicians, some of whom have seen it noble to cross the Beitbridge Border Post to seek financial refuge in neighboring South Africa.
Zimbabwe has endured a turbulent economic landscape that was birthed by the Land Reform Programme of the early 2000s.
In response to the debatably irreversible agrarian programme which saw the then Robert Mugabe-led ruling Zanu PF Government displacing white farmers from the once productive commercial farms and replacing them with landless natives, most European countries that include Britain and America, imposed economic sanctions on Harare.
The Zimbabwe Government under Mnangagwa, who replaced the late long-ruling Zanu PF leader in the dramatic political events of November 2017, has blamed the economic sanctions for the underperformance of the economy.
Zwnews
