News / Local
Bulawayo wants chance to represent Zimbabwe at BBA
28 Jun 2014 at 13:22hrs | Views
SOME artistes from Bulawayo are pleading with Big Brother producers to give the city a chance to represent Zimbabwe in the coming 9th edition of Africa's biggest reality show Big Brother Africa (BBA).
The reality show launches in September with Zimbabwean auditions set for July12 and 13 July at the Meikles Hotel in Harare.
Artistes said past representatives of the reality show did not truly represent the country as most of the participants had come from one region - Harare, disregarding other cities and towns in the country. Maneta Mazanhi and Teclar Mazanhi are the only two housemates who have represented Bulawayo with Itai Makumbe having been selected from Kwekwe.
The rest of the housemates including Pokello Nare, Hakeem Mandaza, Wendall Parson, Krystal Culverwell, Bertha Zakeyo, Munya Chidzonga and Vimbai Mutinhiri have been from Harare.
Though several people from Bulawayo including model Oliver Keith have travelled to Harare year in year out for the auditions, they have never made it.
Stand-up comedian Clive Chigubu said BBA producers were biased towards Harare.
"I don't understand their way of doing things because in the nine years of the show's existence, Maneta can't be the only one from Bulawayo with qualities to be in the show.
"This city is awash with whatever talent you can think of. The selection of BBA housemates is one sided. Of course Harare has the money, but Bulawayo has the talent and that should be reflected in the show," said Chigubu.
Socialite and stand-up comedian Babongile Sikhonjwa also requested that BBA producers be transparent with the criteria they use to select housemates while also pleading with them to consider selecting a housemate from Bulawayo.
"It will be nice to have someone from Bulawayo among the housemates but now the problem is we don't know the criterion Endemol (producers of the show) uses to select.
"It doesn't help for Bulawayo to complain for the sake of complaining while we don't know the selection methods used in the process of coming up with housemates.
"The producers should be transparent with the selection criteria. Until we know the criteria, we are not able to comment as to why Bulawayo is being excluded. However, we ask Multichoice Zimbabwe to plead with Endemol to look to Bulawayo for this season's show," said Sikhonjwa.
Iyasa director Innocent Nkululeko Dube said the BBA baton stick needed to be handed to Bulawayo as the city had many capable characters who could represent the country well.
"I think we have people that are capable of representing Zimbabwe at that stage. People like Babongile Sikhonjwa come to mind and it's high time they are selected unless there are other reasons we don't know," he said.
"We have supported all BBA contestants without question and the time is ripe to hand the baton to the City of Kings to give the show a try. Some of the people I think can represent Bulawayo are Clive Chigubu and Cynthia Moyo (model), I can think of more."
However, Amakhosi director Cont Mhlanga attributed the exclusion of Bulawayo to reluctance by people from the region to participate in such activities and many others.
"Bulawayo people are just reserved unlike their Harare counterparts. They just don't like to partake in such auditions and other auditions basically.
"As a young person, those are the opportunities you need to grab with both hands because you never know where it will lead you to. If young people from Bulawayo would go out in full force, we would be housing people from this side year in and year out in that reality programme," he said.
To enter the BBA reality show, one has to be over the age of 21, be a citizen of the participating countries and have a valid passport. Entry is open to people from Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Previous editions have boasted huge cash prizes for winners and this year's is no different as the prize money is $300,000.
Big Brother will be screened on DStv channels 197 and 198 from September 7 and is scheduled to run for 91 days.
The reality show launches in September with Zimbabwean auditions set for July12 and 13 July at the Meikles Hotel in Harare.
Artistes said past representatives of the reality show did not truly represent the country as most of the participants had come from one region - Harare, disregarding other cities and towns in the country. Maneta Mazanhi and Teclar Mazanhi are the only two housemates who have represented Bulawayo with Itai Makumbe having been selected from Kwekwe.
The rest of the housemates including Pokello Nare, Hakeem Mandaza, Wendall Parson, Krystal Culverwell, Bertha Zakeyo, Munya Chidzonga and Vimbai Mutinhiri have been from Harare.
Though several people from Bulawayo including model Oliver Keith have travelled to Harare year in year out for the auditions, they have never made it.
Stand-up comedian Clive Chigubu said BBA producers were biased towards Harare.
"I don't understand their way of doing things because in the nine years of the show's existence, Maneta can't be the only one from Bulawayo with qualities to be in the show.
"This city is awash with whatever talent you can think of. The selection of BBA housemates is one sided. Of course Harare has the money, but Bulawayo has the talent and that should be reflected in the show," said Chigubu.
Socialite and stand-up comedian Babongile Sikhonjwa also requested that BBA producers be transparent with the criteria they use to select housemates while also pleading with them to consider selecting a housemate from Bulawayo.
"It will be nice to have someone from Bulawayo among the housemates but now the problem is we don't know the criterion Endemol (producers of the show) uses to select.
"The producers should be transparent with the selection criteria. Until we know the criteria, we are not able to comment as to why Bulawayo is being excluded. However, we ask Multichoice Zimbabwe to plead with Endemol to look to Bulawayo for this season's show," said Sikhonjwa.
Iyasa director Innocent Nkululeko Dube said the BBA baton stick needed to be handed to Bulawayo as the city had many capable characters who could represent the country well.
"I think we have people that are capable of representing Zimbabwe at that stage. People like Babongile Sikhonjwa come to mind and it's high time they are selected unless there are other reasons we don't know," he said.
"We have supported all BBA contestants without question and the time is ripe to hand the baton to the City of Kings to give the show a try. Some of the people I think can represent Bulawayo are Clive Chigubu and Cynthia Moyo (model), I can think of more."
However, Amakhosi director Cont Mhlanga attributed the exclusion of Bulawayo to reluctance by people from the region to participate in such activities and many others.
"Bulawayo people are just reserved unlike their Harare counterparts. They just don't like to partake in such auditions and other auditions basically.
"As a young person, those are the opportunities you need to grab with both hands because you never know where it will lead you to. If young people from Bulawayo would go out in full force, we would be housing people from this side year in and year out in that reality programme," he said.
To enter the BBA reality show, one has to be over the age of 21, be a citizen of the participating countries and have a valid passport. Entry is open to people from Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Previous editions have boasted huge cash prizes for winners and this year's is no different as the prize money is $300,000.
Big Brother will be screened on DStv channels 197 and 198 from September 7 and is scheduled to run for 91 days.
Source - Saturday Leisure
