The year 2025 has been every bit as chaotic as the past ten years at Zimbabwe Music Association (Zimura) .
Malicious gossip. Integrity crisis, organisational credibility and recent scandalous events at the Zimura have caused serious outrage among some musicians in the country.
If Zimura was a government, it would be a kakistocratic state (or a kakistocracy) because it is run by most unscrupulous, or least competent persons. In 2025, it was characterised by a lack of integrity, skill, and experience in leadership, often leading to corruption .
Recently, it was revealed that:
- the head of the secretariat and CEO of Zimura, Polisile Ncube-Chimhini was arrested and convicted of fraud.
- It was also revealed that Zimura has been plunged into a massive controversy following allegations that its official offices were sold for a shockingly low US$150,000 with no consultation to its members or transparency, leaving its artist members "completely in the dark."
- The explosive sale has triggered outrage and serious questions about governance, as details emerge pointing towards a blatant disregard for established procedures and a potential conflict of interest at the highest levels.
- The primary office, which is a three bedroom flat in Avondale were reportedly sold for a figure of just US$150,000. For such a significant asset, this price tag has been called suspiciously low by critics. The most damning allegations surround the process itself: One of Zimura members who also works for Seeff Estate Agents, Alexio Gwenzi is said to be allegedly behind this sale, raising a conflict of interest.
- Zero Consultation: Members claim they were kept "completely in the dark" about the transaction. The sale allegedly occurred without any member input.
- No Meetings: Crucially, there was no Annual General Meeting (AGM) and no Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held to approve this massive organisational decision, directly contravening standard governance protocols for an association.
- Some of Zimura’s licensing inspectors are said to have not turned in the money they collected from different organisations’ and
- There has been a conspiracy of silence among its board members who were all benefitting from musicians’ royalties They all kept a usually secret or unstated agreement to remain silent among those who know something whose disclosure might be damaging, harmful, or against their own best interest or that of their associates
These board members included Albert Nyathi, the chairman, Witness Zhangazha, Zimura’s legal adviser, who is reported to have been referred to the Law Society of Zimbabwe for alleged misconduct., Dinoumuzi Phuti , Dereck Mpofu and others..
- The position of executive director is non-existent in the Zimura constitution.
Zimura is an organisation that practically facilitates that composers and authors get paid for their work. When a composer’s music is played publicly, they are entitled to receive money for it. This money is called a royalty.
Zimura is supposed to collect these royalties from the people who play the music and then distributes them to the composers . So, being a Zimura member means one can receive money for their music when it’s used in public.
Zimura is, therefore, the collective management organisation for Zimbabwean music creators, responsible for protecting and promoting their rights, managing royalties, and ensuring fair compensation.
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When I joined Zimura in 2003, my aim was to find ways in which we can purposefully fulfil the upliftment of musicians in Zimbabwe. I persuaded my (now late) musician and multi- millionaire friend who had already made his fortune through Ekhaya Petroleum trade to join Zimura. He agreed and became chairman of this organisation. I became the vice chairman of the organisation.
The organisation had already been established with Gill Atkinson (from Gill, Godlonton and Gerrans lawyers) as the general manager, Ralston, Friday Mbirimi and Simangaliso Tutani as board members.
The staff compliment at the office stood at four - Ncube Chimhini, (who was a typist) Jaure, P Mgijima (replacing Matereke) and M Zvinavashe (replacing Chiuta). Four license inspectors were on the books - M Makubalo, G Chiwara, Chivandikwa and G Chikuni. Together, they successfully collected one million Zimbabwe Dollars in revenue within a single month.
On the administrative front, a letter from the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) London offered no objection from affiliated societies seeing deductions from their revenue awarded to the Trust Fund, as long as ZIMURA did the same with its membership.
The next strategic initiative was the proposed creation of a Trust Fund dedicated to the development of music in Zimbabwe. This was not merely a financial proposal but a gesture of goodwill designed to show to the government that Zimura sought to support the nation's entire music industry. By establishing this fund, Zimura aimed to nurture local talent and contribute to the growth of Zimbabwean music, reinforcing its commitment to the country's broader cultural and artistic landscape.
It was money from the Trust Fund that enabled Zimura to purchase the offices at Aspen Flats in Avondale, and it is also through this Trust Fund that money is supposed to have been looted.
Music use remained disproportionately skewed towards international content, with 77% of revenue assigned to its music and movies and 23% to locals.
Zimura has had a lot of financial hurdles since its formation in 1982. Only 25% of revenue collected from organisations such as ZBC was distributed to local musicians. The rest went into the created Trust Fund. Rates, Zesa bills and board members had to be paid. The Zimura staff also wanted to be paid for their services of distributing these royalties. The musician/membership ended up getting very low percentages for their compositions.
It wasn’t until I joined the organisation when I sat next to Professor Johnathan Moyo, the then Minister of Information on an Air Zimbabwe plane coming from Johannesburg that we spoke about this disparity. He told me about how musicians in Tanzania were earning high royalties from their compositions because the government policy there for air play was that 75% of music played on their radio stations should be local. In Zimbabwe it was the other way round and in his capacity as Minister of Information, he was going to change that..
An ad hoc distribution of $27,268.84 (US$36,798.17 at the 2025 rate) was thus unanimously approved based on the above. According to Tutani's analysis, composers with a large body of work, such as Jonah Moyo, Thomas Mapfumo, Oliver Mtukudzi, and Paul Matavire, were given significant points.
For a while, they served as the benchmark for less accomplished composers,
Panellists would meticulously review every submission made by rights holders to protect the process’s integrity. Flavian Nyathi’s ‘Ropa ReZimbabwe’ came to bear an example of signature tunes awarded a work was used in the year.
While the inspectors successfully collected one million dollars each month, the yeary 2003 saw an Elective Annual General Meeting for the new board of directors, held on February 17 that year at the Zimbabwe College of Music. Two retiring directors, T Mupfurutsa and Edwin Manikai, were nominated and endorsed to sit again. After polling, Micheal Sekerani, Charles Charamba, Oliver Mtukudzi, Albert Nyathi, Peter Muparutsa and Fred Zindi joined the Board.
This board recognised the need to expand their oversight to several new sectors. These included movie houses, cell phone ringtones, commuter omnibuses and internet cafés, which presented additional opportunities for revenue collection and enforcement of licensing regulations.
The meeting resolved to advertise all vacancies in the newspapers as and when they came up as there was now a conspiracy of hiring even incompetent relatives by the so called executive director.
Most of the work at the office, including distribution, had been computerised to improve the standards of service rendered to members and clients.
Members asked why the money from PRS was not filtered to them as hard currency. The forum was told that while PRS calculated in pounds, the money was sent at the Zimbabwe Dollar official exchange rate. Zimura then paid out in the local currency and subtracted money owed by PRS when sending their share of local distribution. Zimura could have distributed this money in sterling just like we receive money via Western Union today. Another conspiracy.
Integrity needs to be restored at Zimura. Some members see the organisation as a way of making money which they did not work for. This practice ought to stop.
In my opinion happenings at Zimura need to be further investigated as the new board does not even know where to begin.
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