Chipanga regrets Mugabe song

Controversial sungura artiste Hosiah Chipanga says he regrets releasing the song Gushungo as it failed to open the doors for him to meet President Robert Mugabe.

In the song released in 2006, Chipanga absolved Mugabe of graft and instead blamed the rot afflicting the country on his Cabinet.

The Mutare-based musician's song drew the ire of some ordinary Zimbabweans who argued that Mugabe was equally blameworthy. 11 years later, Chipanga now concedes that the song was a lost cause.

"I released the song as part of a strategy to get an opportunity to meet the president. I had hoped that the song would make the people around him allow me to meet the president so that I could give him clues on good governance," the Kwachu Kwachu singer said, adding:

"Sadly, my strategy did not work. I thought he would invite me to his office after listening to the song but that never happened.

"Instead, I was attacked repeatedly by some people who thought I should not have sung the song in the first place…what these people didn't realise was the fact that I got nothing from Mugabe…not even chipeneti chaicho," said the Mutare- based artiste.

Though the Gushungo singer failed to facilitate a meeting with Mugabe, Chipanga has not given up.

"God wants me to meet Mugabe, so one way or the other I will meet him. The day I will meet him is the day he will retire from the presidency.

"All the succession wars in Zanu PF are sheer waste of time," Chipanga sensationally claimed.

He added the nature of his agenda, which he claims was mandated by God, has made some people to question his sanity.

"I am not mad but I am a man on a very big mission. I received a special message for this country on September 13, 1977 from God and I will go out of my way to deliver it to the president," he told the Daily News.

Chipanga said he initially never wanted to dabble in politics.

"I started singing in the 1970s but my songs were banned by the Rhodesian government.

"As a musician I have a duty to deliver messages to the intended audience in their original form without any apology.

"I never wanted to be a politician but I was forced to be one because my meeting with Mugabe was being continually blocked by those surrounding him.

"That is why I ended up forming a political party called The Kingdom of God On Earth: Devine Rule On Earth because politics is the only language our president understand and not music or gospel.

"Hear it from me I have tried to use music and gospel before and it hasn't worked," he said.

Chipanga said he was currently in the process of remixing his old hits from the 1970s to 1980s to demonstrate the consistency of his message.

"I am in the process of collecting old songs that criticise the governance system.

"Some of the songs are still relevant to the current political and economic situation despite the fact that they were released way back," he said, adding that the first remix will be released next month.

It will be a remix of the single Gumi Remitemo (Ten Commandments).

He said he will continue releasing music even though his latest album has been unofficially banned by local radio stations. Titled Gamba, the politically-charged album is dedicated to the late liberation war hero Solomon Mujuru.

All the four songs - Gamba, KwaMarange, Vendor and Baba Abram boldly tackle challenges Zimbabwe is grappling with.

On the title track, Chipanga questions how Mujuru could be killed by a mysterious fire at his Beatrice farm in 2011 yet he had survived helicopter gunships, landmines and grenades during the liberation war.

KwaMarange attacks the State for mismanaging Marange diamonds and claims that people living near the diamond fields are poorer than they were before the diamonds were discovered.

On Vendor the controversial wordsmith says Zimbabwe has been reduced to a nation of vendors while the police have abandoned their constitutional duty of fighting crime and are now focussing on "fundraising" efforts.