Zodwa Wabantu scared of Mugabe

Controversial South African socialite Zodwa Wabantu says she called off her three-city tour of Zimbabwe which was set for this weekend because of her fear of President Robert Mugabe.

Zodwa was scheduled to make an appearance at Private Lounge Harare last night before heading to the recently-launched Club 263 in Mutare tonight.

The socialite-cum-dancer, who has split public opinion over provocative signature looks - a short dress with no panties - was supposed to wind up the tour of Zimbabwe tomorrow at Club Connect.

"I am scared to come. (Mr) Mugabe said I should stay away from Zimbabwe," she told the Daily News yesterday from her South African base.

Zodwa could not be drawn into revealing when and how Mugabe had barred her from coming to Zimbabwe.

But at a presidential youth interface rally held in Bindura in September, Mugabe hit out at Zodwa for not wearing undergarments.

"I'm sorry we disappointed many men…You just come without covering your decency. What do you want? Men to see you? We don't want such," Mugabe said then.

Interestingly, early this month the South African socialite once again expressed her desire to meet Mugabe despite his stance on her controversial signature look.

"I want to meet him because I have heard a lot of things about him. Like when I first went there, I was told he would chase me out, but he didn't.

"So I want to get to know him properly. If I do meet him I will ask him a lot of things," she claimed then in a South African newspaper, adding: "They (people who had supposedly promised to broker a meeting between Zodwa and Mugabe) called and asked to meet me and I said yes.

"They haven't called about the time but they want to talk about me potentially meeting him (Robert Mugabe)."

Zodwa's abrupt decision not to come to Zimbabwe has left the organisers of the tour - Devine Assignments - counting their losses. In preparation for Zodwa's highly-anticipated tour, Private Lounge Harare, for example, had renovated the elite club.

A spokesperson for Devine Assignments told the Daily News they had also been taken aback by the sudden cancellation.

"We have all her papers and clearances but she has chickened out. We are sorry to all our clients, but this is beyond us," he said.

This is the second time this year that Zodwa has called off a tour of Zimbabwe at the eleventh hour.

In early September she sensationally cancelled her trip barely two days after the Board of Censors headed by ex-Education minister Aneas Chigwedere had authorised her tour.

At the time, she attributed her decision to abort the Zimbabwean tour on former Studio 263 actress Anne Nhira who had earlier successfully appealed to government to stop the South African socialite from participating in the Harare International Carnival which ran in the capital city from September 2 to 10.

"I am not going to Zimbabwe, I won though. I can't be in a country run by P**** @annenhira… South Africa, It's home. We make friends with other nations" the Durban Socialite wrote on Instagram.

Zodwa's cancellation of her Zimbabwean tour in September came like a bolt from the blue because Devine Assignments, just like this time around, had been given the necessary go-ahead by the Board of Censors.