Zimbabwe war vet and singer Comrade Dickson Chinx Chingaira is now very ill and unable to take care of his large family.
While admitting that he is suffering from an ailment yet to be identified, the Vanhu vese muAfrica singer has opened up about his miserable living condition brought about by the illness.
Reported to have died twice in recent years, Cde Chinx says his battle with an unknown ailment since 2013, has sometimes made him wish he would just die as he cannot feed his 2 wives and six children.
He also said he struggles to take his medication as they should be taken with food which he can not afford to have in his house as he is not working.
“At first they thought it was arthritis, then TB and even gout, but after a series of tests I emerged clean. Now they suspect it is cancer yet still the specialists I have been to are not sure,” said the revolutionary musician.
The “Roger Confirm” singer says whatever disease he is suffering from makes him weak in the joints. He equates the kind of pain he experiences to being mauled by lions all over the body but without dying.
His wife Patricia, whom he lives with in Chitungwiza said she wonders what kind of pain he undergoes as he cries like a little baby when in agony.
“He cries like a baby when in pain. We have to carry him because he will be too weak,” said Patricia, who met Cde Chinx during the liberation war in Mozambique.
She added: “He is always sleeping, sometimes crying. We don’t even know what to give him, he is the breadwinner. We have no food in the house yet we can’t divert what we have for medicine, we need him to stay alive.”
Cde Chinx has been to all sort of places to try get cured including to prophets, apostolic faith churches and traditional healers.