Sungura musician-cum-Zanu PF minister, Energy Mutodi has said inasmuch as veteran Chimurenga crooner Thomas Mapfumo has produced good music in the past, he is ‘lost’, politically speaking.
Mutodi, who is now deputy Minister of Media, Information and Broadcasting Services said the venerated United States-based musician has also been losing the plot, musically, because of advanced age. Mukanya, as Mapfumo is affectionately known back home, will celebrate his 75th birthday on July 2, this year.
“Good music does not translate to good politics. I like Dr Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo’s music. He is excellent but he gets lost when it comes to politics. After witnessing the war (and) singing in support of the struggle, Mukanya is losing it all because of age”, Mutodi wrote on his Twitter handle this Sunday.
Mukanya is a celebrated music icon in Zimbabwe and his pre-independence music inspired freedom fighters during the liberation struggle. He was persecuted by the minority settler regime for his politically charged music that challenged the excesses of the brutish British regime.
Deposed former president Robert Mugabe
In the early 2000s, and albeit being honoured with an honorary doctorate for his indelible contribution to Zimbabwean music, Mapfumo fell out of favour with the bungling administration of late former president Robert Mugabe and his music was banned from all state radio stations.
He exiled to the US in 2005 and only returned to Zimbabwe in April 2018, roughly five months after Mugabe was toppled following a military coup that propelled current president Emmerson Mnangagwa to the top.
Zwnews
