Man assaulted for associating new Tuku song to First Lady

A Bulawayo man Douglas Dube, claims that he was assaulted by two man for associating a new song by Oliver Mtukudzi to First Lady Grace Mugabe.

In a revelation to Bulawayo24, Dube claims that he was drinking at a bar along Robert Mugabe Way in Bulawayo when he jumped to dance to a track called Kamburumbunde from Mtukudzi's latest album. In the process of dancing Dube claims that some Shona speaking people he did not know said the song was describing First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe.

Dube who claims not to understand Shona then approached some other two Shona speaking man who were standing outside the bar and asked them what Kamburumbunde meant. According to Dube, the man told him that the song talks about a person who goes around the village speaking ill of other people and causing disharmony in the community after which he laughed and said the guys were right that the song described the First Lady.

Dube then claims that the two men confessed to be ZANU PF members and did not take kindly to him calling the First Lady "Kamburumbunde". According to Dube the two men then started assaulting him with fists and boots and tried to drag him to nearby Bulawayo Police Station. Dube says he tried to apologise to the men who did not accept his apology before he managed to over power them a few meters from the police station and made good his escape.

Several songs have previously been pulled off Zimbabwe's airwaves after listeners changed the meaning of the songs to denote reference to President Mugabe or the government. In the 90s a number of people were arrested after taking one of Tuku's songs Bvuma (wachembera) to have been referring to the President's advanced age.

At one time a lighting operator at a Tuku concert in Bulawayo was arrested after he shifted a flood light to focus on President Mugabe's picture while Tuku played the song on stage. The song was since removed from the Zimbabwean airwaves.

Under Zimbabwe
law it is an offence to ridicule the President or any member of the first family. Dube who escaped with a swollen right eye and sore ribs says he could not report the assault to the police in fear of being arrested.