BY SHARON SIBINDI in Bulawayo
Fresh details concerning the rebranding of isichathamiya gospel group Impumelelo Shining Star to Indosakusa the Morning Star have emerged, with businessman and founder Coaster Lungisani Ncube revealing that he took away the name after a fallout with other group members.
This comes after Impumelelo Shining Stars rebranded to Indosakusa the Morning Star last year, after 17 years in the music industry. Group leader Oscar Siziba was quoted last year saying the rebranding was God-inspired.
“We are a praying group that moves and works with God’s vision. What we have done is God-inspired. It’s been two years since God gave us a revelation and since then He has been talking to us about rebranding and finding ourselves and this had to be fulfilled. Indosakusa is a new beginning and we will be torch bearers in the music industry,” Siziba said then.
However, Ncube refuted the claims, saying the group had received a donation letter from King Mzilikazi, who wanted to tour with them and said he was against it.
“I am the founder of Impumelelo Shining Stars after I came with a vision from South Africa in 2000. I then went to my rural home, where I started the group and we were three of us, myself, Banele Ncube and Mduduzi Nkomo. We then roped in Oscar Siziba when the group was already running, he joined others and started performing at my rural home in eMaphane, eNqameni in Gwanda,” Ncube said.
“The group showed me a letter which was appealing for donations for the King Mzilikazi event saying they got it from him. That is the same king who wanted to bring in divisions between the Ndebele and Shona people. I had to admonish them and I told them I am the founder of the group and they can’t tour with this king who wants to bring divisions in the country.
“I told them that I was against it and I was not happy. I even told them not to take such a letter to church and I still have the letter with me.”
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Ncube said his decision did not go down well with other group members to the extent of writing him a “divorce” letter.
“I had asked my late uncle to talk to them against taking part in the event and they were not happy and they wrote me a letter telling me that we were severing ties. They are divorcing me, they are leaving me with my name (Impumelelo) and they are now Indosakusa,” he said.
“In the letter, they were complaining again that for the past 17 years they were poor, kept like slaves and this shocked me. I was shocked also to read in the newspaper Oscar saying he started the group, but I told myself, ‘I will not be moved by everything and Impumelelo Shining Star will carry on’.”
Ncube said Impumelelo Shinning Stars was vibrant in his rural home, Gwanda, where he has roped in fresh blood.
“As I am speaking, I have a group running in Gwanda under the name and they are continuing as I was the founder. This is what happened. I thought I was helping out my home boys and wanted to see them grow. I saw that they were youngsters, they would get their senses back and come and apologise. I am at peace with them and they can go ahead with Indosakusa,”he said.
Ncube said he took them from his rural home to Bulawayo where the journey started.
“I took them to Magwegwe to our family house where we stayed together. Before moving to Magwegwe, I had to go to Filabusi where I did gold panning to raise a few dollars for the group’s upkeep in Bulawayo. It was in Filabusi when I met other guys Mduduzi Moyo and Philani whom I roped into the group,” Ncube said.
“They then became eight and I had to look for people to train them how to sing and during that time, I was forced not to sing like I did before. I used to compose some of the music, but looking after eight people, I became the breadwinner as we did not have anyone to sponsor us. I had to sponsor things like food, clothes and where they stayed. The group then started singing and became popular when it was based in Magwegwe,”he said.
Ncube said he also helped Siziba with paying lobola and assisted him on the wedding ceremony.
“It came a time when Oscar was now grown up and needed to get married. I helped him out, gave him money to pay lobola. I went to Gwanda and sold some of my cattle for him to get married. I had to put him in a house, which I had rented for six years, staying there at Number 3 Clark Road, Suburbs in Bulawayo. I paid the rent for him.
“I worked with them well for 17 years. Then it came a time where I left Zaoga and went to ECG [Enlightened Christian Gathering, Shepherd Bushiri’s church] and took the group with me to South Africa to sing there. I even composed a song, which talks about my major breakthough in life from Malawi to South Africa and we recorded it.
“Almost all their albums, it was me who funded the recording. They sold CDs of a song that talks about my life and made a lot of money. I never took any cent from it. I had booked for them a hotel in South Africa and told them to share the money they got.”
Ncube also refuted claims that he fired Oscar’s wife at work without pay, saying she and other employees stole from his company.
“What happened is Oscar’s wife was my sister in-law and she was not working, but doing her own things within my business. So, what happened is that she ganged up with my workers and stole my money,” Ncube said.
“One of my workers spilled the beans and I parted ways with her and the other workers involved.”
However, Siziba said the group had been shown the vision as they are prayerful.
“We are prayerful people and God showed us that we have to change the name to Indosakusa. Then it came a time when Satan tried his tricks, the divorce letter we were telling him that we are now grown up and we can now stand alone. We have got families and the problem was we are now grown-ups who cannot keep depending on him,” Siziba said.
“All that he says happened is a lie. I agree with you it may have happened, but the money thing is a lie. Someone with money can come to you and tell you that this person is doing this and that, then you agree.”
Siziba said they believed they were mature enough to stand on their own.
“He (Ncube) is a busy man and we saw that the way he is busy, he could not run the group as effectively as we want it managed. We saw it fit to move forward rather than wait for someone who would be at home in Gwanda. We were not fighting, but we were just telling him that we are grown up,” he said.
“We told him about our vision, but he didn’t respond. What we wanted was something progressive and we believe there is progress in Impumelelo from Indosakusa, which is a good thing. For all those 18 years, it was difficult because there was no growth. However, at this new project we haven’t turned a year, but there is a lot of progress.”
Siziba said his colleagues had a lot of respect for Ncube for what he did for them.
“Surely, some things need to be changed so that you see for yourselves. As a group, we believe Ncube is our father and we respect him. We even asked him for a meeting to share our vision and bid him farewell, but he refused. What he just wanted was the name Impumelelo Shining Star.” Siziba said.
