Macheso's 'marrying spree' costs him corporate deals

ALICK MACHESO'S shenanigans seem to have cost him his corporate image.

Macheso ' who added two wives to Nyadzisai and rebuked the other one in a last-in, first-out style in less than  a year ' is losing out on promotional contracts. Could the corporate world be uncomfortable with his polygamous behaviour?

Recently OK Zimbabwe snubbed him for the annual Grand Challenge promotion that was held at Borrowdale Racecourse, a promotion where he had almost become a permanent feature. On the other hand, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe recently contracted the talented bassist to record an advertisement at the time they were about to launch their broadband service last year.

But as Macheso was busy recording the advert in line with the script given to him and submitted it to Econet, the cellphone service provider unfortunately chose not to use the promo.

At the time of the Econet engagement, his flirtations with his now second wife, Tafadzwa Mapako, were sensationally exposed by this newspaper when he took her to Akon's arrival party at the Harare International Airport and, before long, was making headlines in almost every newspaper.

At the launch of the broadband services in mid-October, Econet then decided not to use his advert.

A source within Econet's marketing department, who preferred anonymity, said: "When The Sunday Mail first published Tafadzwa's pictures, and the subsequent media frenzy, our bosses decided against using Macheso's promo."

He added that Econet did not want to be associated with his scandal. "Scandals are not good for your business. It is better to find a little-known musician to do your marketing if you want to promote your service than to take a big controversy-ridden artiste. We left him to fight his battles."

Officially commenting for Econet, Ranga Mberi, the corporate communications manager, would neither confirm nor deny that they went into a contract with probably the most popular musician in the country at the moment. Instead he said: "Econet Wireless is consistently developing several options for communication with our customers. The large bank of ads we have is used as and when the need arises, depending on the occasion and purpose."

However, Macheso's artiste and repertoire (A&R) manager, Tich Makahamadze, of Last Power Studios, says Econet got it all wrong. He said: "Yes, it is true that Macheso recorded the song. The song was a masterpiece and, in my own opinion, Econet stood to benefit from it."

He added that if the corporate world thought Macheso's fan base was plummeting because of his "marrying spree", they were not on the ground and are not aware of what is really happening.

"I will be honest with you. At the peak of the debate of Macheso's marriages, his popularity seemed to actually have been growing by the day.

"When newspapers broke the Tafadzwa story, Macheso was about to release his album, and it was a hit. Macheso sells. I think he is the best seller."

Makahamadze added that when the Mai VaRubhi hit-maker decided to take his maid, Adeline Hunidzarira (21), as his wife in April this year, he even got more popular.

"It is very unfortunate that Macheso is very sensitive when it comes to his album sales. I could have shown you his sales figures and you would see that his album started selling like hot cakes when the maid story started running."

Macheso paid US$5 000 bride price for Adeline at her rural home in Murehwa, only to claim a fortnight later that he was blackmailed into marrying and deciding to "ditch" her and nullified the union.

Three weeks later, Macheso went to marry Tafadzwa, for whom he sang the hit song Tafadzwa.

At this point Makahamadze says Zvinoda Kutendwa's, Macheso's latest album, sales heightened because of the controversy.

"I remember very well in the week that he 'divorced' Adeline, his sales shot through the roof. We actually had to work overtime to keep up with the demand. The truth is, Macheso is now more popular than he was at the beginning of the year and I think Econet and those other business people shunning Macheso have got it all wrong. That is why he is the people's choice."

Though no official comment could be obtained from OK Zimbabwe, this year Macheso was not featured at the OK Grand Challenge held at the beginning of this month, yet he had become almost a resident artiste at previous editions of the annual promotion.

Instead, Sulumani Chimbetu took that mantle this year. It remains to be seen if Delta Beverages, who have used Macheso perennially at the Chibuku Road to Fame finals, scheduled towards the end of the year, will follow in the footsteps of Econet and OK Zimbabwe, and snub the sungura king.

On the other hand, his adversaries in the industry are enjoying corporate deals. Oliver Mtukudzi is well remembered for advertising  a brand of cooking oil, Winky D is enjoying a lucrative deal promoting male circumcision while Stunner and Cindy "married" for a soft drink advert.