Zimbabwe authorities harass or arrest almost all South African celebrities who perform in Zim

A Zimbabwean court has ordered that amapiano stars Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa should be refunded the R325,000 they paid on Monday for damages relating to their failure to perform at an event they had been booked for.

The High Court of Zimbabwe sitting in Bulawayo on Tuesday ordered the country’s sheriff of the high court to immediately pay back Kabza De Small, real name Petrus Kabelo Motha, and DJ Maphorisa, real name Themba Sonnyboy Sekowe, $18,400 (R325,772,18).

The pair’s Zimbabwean attorney Zibusiso Ncube on Tuesday filed an urgent interdict opposing a writ of execution that was issued against Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa following a court order in favour of the Victoria Falls Carnival promoter. The court order saw Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa being required to the pay the $18,400 with immediate effect or face arrest.

The court order declared that the sheriff should pay back the duo or their nominated agents, which Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa had paid pursuant to the writ of execution.

Victoria Falls Carnival was ordered to pay back the legal costs of the lawsuit on an attorney and client scale.

Ncube on Monday said they were challenging the court order because the musicians, after they had failed to pitch for the April event, agreed with the carnival organisers to refund R230,000 in full and final settlement of the matter.

However, the carnival organisers decided to sue the musicians for damages once they landed in Zimbabwe last week, demanding more money from them.

Ncube had said the demand for damages was not supported by the contract they had signed.

“The contract that is signed was that in the event of cancellation [Maphorisa and Kabza] won’t pay for certain things. And these are the things that these people are claiming,” he said.

SA musicians and entertainers have made allegations of poor treatment in their recent appearances in Zimbabwe.

Jazz musician McCoy Mrubata was booked to perform in Zimbabwe but that did not happen as the promoter allegedly abandoned him and his band at the airport when they landed in Zimbabwe and the promoter did not have money to pay for the band’s return tickets to SA.

Amapiano duo Tarryn Reid and Clairise Hefke from Gqeberha, who are known as TXC, were allegedly arrested in Zimbabwe last month. The duo, who had visited Zimbabwe to perform at the Yoyo Festival, were arrested by the police for breaching a contract. The two were apparently paid R560,000 to perform in Kariba last year in October but failed to perform.

Meanwhile, the SA Music Promoters Association secretary Lesiba Mothoa said as the body that is representing promoters, their plan has always been to have a formal structure that represents all promoters on the African continent in a bid to create better working relations. Mothoa said the idea started immediately after an African Continental Free Trade Area agreement was signed in 2018.

“We decided to start this exercise after African Trade was signed because as creatives we needed to work together, especially in the SADC region. We did not know that we were pre-empting a situation that we have been seeing happening this year involving three SA artists [Maphorisa, Kabza, Mrubata and TXC]. We have started engaging with promoters in eSwatini, Botswana and some in Zimbabwe. The plan is to have a standard way of working and make sure that we expand the market.

“When we have a standardised way of working, then there will be no-one who will be exploited and the treatment will be fair. The bigger plan is to have all promoters from Africa under one structure or organisation. In this case, the problem is that we don’t know what was the contract between the artist and promoter.”

Attempts to get a comment from DJ Maphorisa and Kabza drew a blank as their management team was not available with cellphones switched off. Both artists’ cellphone numbers went to voicemail the whole day.

Confusion as Mohale allowed in Zimbabwe after Somizi was banned

Mzansi people on social media have expressed confusion over Zimbabwe’s policies after Mohale Motaung’s visit. Mohale’s visit comes barely six months after his estranged husband Somizi “Somgaga” Mhlongo was banned from entering the country because he is gay.

Mohale appears to be living his best life in Zimbabwe, and he has been gallivanting across the country on a solo vacation.

If you want to heal, find water and stare… ??

?: Chinhoyi Caves, Zimbabwe ??. pic.twitter.com/5PLxV2b3oH

— Mohale Motaung (@mohale_motaung) May 8, 2022

While many were happy to see him enjoying himself, some South Africans questioned how he had been allowed to enter the country.

They alleged that Zimbabwe was being discriminatory as it had banned Somizi from entering the country last year.

Noting the difference in the treatment of Mohale and Somizi, here is how some South Africans reacted:

@Sassy_Eni: “I have a question for Zimbabwe… Somizi was denied entry into Zim because of his s.e.xuality, but Mohale was granted entry…. Please balance me here. Is one gay gayer than the other. Consistency in this life is important.”

@jonathanjonip: “Remember when Zimbabwean gov banned Somizi from coming to Zimbabwe because he is gay ?”

@MoiponeSenoe: “So only Somizi I banned from entering Zim ?, I thought the enter LGBTQ community was banned.”

The openly gay celebrity chef was supposed to grace the official reopening of Garwe Restaurant as a guest chef last November.

He was unable to fulfil this commitment after he was banned after Zanu PF party youths and a group of churches blocked the visit claiming Somizi would corrupt the morals of Zimbabweans.

However, it’s not clear if Somizi was banned due to a government directive or if event organisers pulled out in fear of retribution or boycott.

Zimbabwe chief orders Robert Mugabe remains exhumed, reburied at heroes’ shrine

A chief in Zimbabwe has ordered the exhumation and reburial of Robert Mugabe’s remains at the national heroes’ shrine in Harare after accusing the late leader’s wife of breaking local custom by interring him at his rural home in 2019.

Mugabe, who was ousted in a coup that brought Emmerson Mnangagwa to power in November 2017, was buried at his village of Kutama after weeks of dispute with Mnangagwa’s government over his final resting place.

A traditional chief in Zvimba district, which includes Kutama, said he had received a complaint from a Mugabe clan member over the manner of his burial.

After presiding over a village court last Thursday, Chief Zvimba on Monday issued a ruling that found Grace Mugabe guilty of breaking traditional norms by burying her husband in the courtyard of his home.

The former first lady, who did not attend the hearing, was fined five cows and a goat.

“I give powers to those who are permitted by law to exhume the late Robert Mugabe’s remains from Kutama and rebury them at the National Heroes Acre in Harare,” said a copy of the ruling in the local Shona language.

Leo Mugabe, spokesman for the Mugabe family, immediately rejected the ruling.

“He (chief) has no jurisdiction over Kutama. And even if the correct chief had made that ruling we would have appealed to the court,” Leo Mugabe told Reuters.

Chiefs in Zimbabwe have jurisdiction over their local subjects but it is rare for them to order families to exhume bodies for reburial.

The chief’s order will likely rekindle a row over Mugabe’s final resting place.

Mnangagwa had pushed for Mugabe to be buried at the monument for liberation war heroes, but the family refused, saying Mugabe had expressed fears to close family members before his death that some of the people who ousted him would seek to conduct a traditional ritual with some of his body parts.

List of Prominent South Africans who studied and worked in Zimbabwe

Prominent South Africans who studied and worked in Zimbabwe

There are a number of prominent South Africans whose footsteps can be traced back to Zimbabwe. Some South Africans studied and worked in Zimbabwe.

Here are some of them

Tshepo Motsepe

The First Lady of South Africa worked at Parirenyatwa, the largest hospital in Zimbabwe. The trained doctor also worked in private practice and in hospitals including amongst them, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in South Africa.

Sophie Ndaba

She is one prominent person who studied in Zimbabwe before returning to work in South Africa.

Sophie Ndaba was born in South Africa and stayed in Soweto in her early childhood.

The actress was sent by her mother to an orphanage in Eastlea, a suburb in Harare, Zimbabwe to get a better education than what was available in apartheid South Africa.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize