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INSURANCE and risk management are two words that are rarely mentioned together with the arts.
They do not feature at all in artistes’ profiles, let alone being discussed among artistes.
It also does not make any sense when fellow insurance brokers and risk managers see Zanele Nkomazana running around with different music groups, among them South African legends Soul Brothers, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Dorothy Masuku, Freddie Gwala and Platform One.
Their concerns are justified.
Nkomazana holds an Honours Degree in Insurance and Risk Management, and has worked for a number of leading insurance companies in the country.
She appeared to be riding high in the insurance sector, when she founded two insurance companies, Mandisa and Hear view.
Despite her professional achievements, Nkomazana still felt she had to venture into the arts — a field so alien to insurance professionals.
“We should not take our professional qualifications as small cages where we imprison ourselves and fail to contribute to other sectors of society where we know we can make a difference,” Nkomazana said.
This conviction, she says, is the manifestation of the love she has always had f
or the arts as a youngster growing up at a farming community near Lupane.
“I spent most of my childhood in the village, where I also did my primary and secondary school.
“As I was growing up, I got a lot of inspiration from traditional songs that were sung in the village, especially at gatherings,” she said.
Unfortunately for Nkomazana, the best she could do about those songs and dance was to try and imitate them.
Things changed when she finally moved to Bulawayo for her “A” Levels.
“In Bulawayo, I got to interact with many artistes, and I developed this strong feeling that I could also do something for the arts,” she said.
It seemed impossible that Nkomazana would ever again pursue her dream in the arts when she got into the insurance industry, and even set up her own insurance companies.
But through her interactions with people like Albert Nyathi and Inkululeko Yabatsha School of Arts (IYASA) founder and director Nkululeko Innocent Dube the drean was kept alive.
But after excelling in her “A” Levels, Nkomazana’s childhood convictions came into the fore again.
“I used to spend a lot of time with female members of Imbongi (Nyathi’s group).
“I would attend their rehearsals at the National Sports Stadium where they used to be based.
“So we continued to interact, I asked them if we could not come up with something to keep them busy whenever they are not touring with Nyathi,” Nkomazana said.
Female members of Imbongi grabbed the proposal, and within a few days, they had formed Amavithikazi — an all female dance group.
“We would perform at functions and at schools, focusing mainly on HIV/Aids.
“One day Nkululeko Dube watched us perform and asked if we could not do joint performance with Iyasa at Sports Diner.”
That show in 2005 marked the beginning of a new chapter in the group’s life.
Suddenly promoters were calling them from all parts of the country.
Things appeared to be working well for the group, but after a few weeks, some members quit the group and formed Mambokadzi, which focused mostly on Sungura music.
Mambokadzi also split a few months later, leading to the formation of Girls of Peace.
With dance groups sprouting on a daily basis, it became clear that the future of Amavithikazi as a group was under threat.
To secure the group Nkomazana came up with the idea of transforming them into a fully-fledged music outfit.
“We cannot be dancing to other people’s music forever.
“It was good to start off as a dance group, but in life people have to grow, and for us that growth entails moving from dancing to other people’s music to composing and dancing to our own music,” Nkomazana said.
The group has since established cultural exchange programmes with Platform One of South Africa and Culture Spears from Botswana.
They were instrumental in initiating Culture Spears’ forthcoming performance at the National Arts Merit Awards at the end of next week.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
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