"Zimura is a den of thieves,” says Clive Malunga of Nesango fame when asked to comment about the goings on at Zimura. This was in response to my article of two weeks ago on the same subject which did stir up a hornet’s nest.
There are dozens of Zimura members who echo the same sentiments.
Examples are Philip Chipfumbu and Fred Farai Nyakudanga whom Albert Nyathi claims are not members of Zimura.
It looks like the article ruffled a few feathers among Zimura board members..
First of all. One must ask how these board members came into office. At the last Zimura AGM I attended, Michael Sekerani had come with a bus load of Zimbabwe Union of Musicians (Zimu) supporters whom he had asked to vote for him into the Zimura offices and promised them housing stands at Hopley Farm where he had links with Webster Shamu. They did. It did not matter what his administrative background was.
When voting was by show of hands, he won and was elected into the board.
This leads us to question the criteria used to select persons into Zimura board. Do they consider their educational qualifications? Are they selected according to their popularity?. Are their moral values and integrity taken into account?.
The board before the last AGM consisted of Nyathi (chairperson), Witness Zhangazha (legal advisor), Mechanic Manyeruke (vice-chairperson), First Farai or Batani, Janet Manyowa, Mudiwa Hood (innovation and strategy), Nathaniel Ncube and Dingumuzi Phuti. (Dingumuzi Phuti is Zimbabwe’s Information and Communication Technologies, Postal and Courier Services deputy minister.) At a Zimura meeting held on December 19, 2024, five of the above named officers made the decision to sell the Zimura offices.
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Zhangazha got into trouble as he was allegedly involved in professional misconduct, by the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ). This led the society to seek his removal from the register of legal practitioners in a High Court application (HH 306-18) for breaching the Legal Practitioners Act. While specific final outcomes aren’t detailed in the snippets, the case highlights a disciplinary action by the LSZ against Zhangazha for unprofessional conduct, with reports of other bodies, like the Zimu, also calling for scrutiny of his conduct regarding his role as legal advisor for Zimura.
In essence, the case is a formal disciplinary proceeding initiated by the regulatory body for lawyers in Zimbabwe against one of its members for serious ethical breaches, with broader professional implications raised by other organisations.
Sometimes I get so unpopular in my reporting because I ruffle a few feathers. However, it does not bother me as long as I am documenting the truth. ..
Way back in 2008, Oliver Mtukudzi who was Zimura's top royalty earner and the benchmark for lesser artistes, had received ZW$3 000. We were both board members although he did not attend any meetings. He came to me and asked: “Professor, why did I receive such a paltry sum when ZBC had paid out ZW$3million?” I told him that there were other musicians who also got paid but the bulk of the money went into expenses such as staff salaries,trust fund, rates and board ,member allowances.
He said that we needed to find ways of cutting down on such expenditure as it seemed that office staff were earning more money than the musicians who worked for it. Reason Ziso came from Chitungwiza to Zimura offices to collectZW$11, which just covered his transport fares.. The response he got for receiving such a small amount was because his songs were not getting airplay.
Regarding the current saga. I asked Nyathi (the outgoing chaiman) and Alexio Gwenzi (on the current board) to explain why musicians are complaining about their paltry royalties
When I sat down with Nyathi and Gwenzi last week. they asked me to retract some of the statements which I had made in my last article on Zimura. I told them that before I did that, I would like to first see the minutes of the meeting regarding the sale of the two Zimura flats in Avondale and the purchase of land in Bulawayo using Zimura funds. They only showed me the new constitution which had been amended to show that there is no need for an AGM in order to make decisions such as the purchase of land or the sale of offices. I later received a set of abridged minutes from Gwenzi, which did not inform me much.
Nyathi told me that everything he did while he was a board member was above board. Rumours had been circulating that he made a trip to Europe with Dereck Mpofu using Zimura funds, but he denied this. He said that the money was from other sources. He said there were people out there to tarnish his name and that of Zimura. He said that it is them who are spreading the lies..
Gwenzi also stated that everything he did including the sale of Zimura offices was above board and he followed laid down corporate procedures.
First Farai said the same: “There are people out there who want to see Zimura deregistered”.
He mentioned Chipfumbu and Nyakudanga as some of the culprits.
Now, wait a minute! Tell me how Aliya Mwanambo, aka First Farai, the current acting chairman of Zimura was elected as a board member despite several cases of alleged immoral acts? Didn’t those who elected him read the press about his alleged cases of misconduct?
He was previously accused of stealing condolence money at Cephas Mashakada’s funeral. Hosiah Chipanga was at the forefront of this case.
He was arrested for assault in Hwedza in 2015.
In 2017 he announced that his mother had passed away. Well wishers collected US$300 condolence money with aim to assist him. It later emerged that the musician could have been lying and the death of his mother was a hoax as she had died long before he was even a teenager.
How does a man like that end up leading a money collecting agency like Zimura?
According to Nyathi and Gwenzi, Zimura now has 5 000 members.
A method of voting in which the members raise their hands to show their vote is best used only in small groups where everyone can see each other. Otherwise the results may be in question.
The new Zimura board has got a lot of cleaning up to do. It comprises First Farai, Gwenzi and Phuti from the previous board, as well as Dereck Mpofu, Gift Amuli, and Joseph Garakara who recently joined the new board.
Already there is tension between the old members and the new ones. Mpofu declared that he will not take sides as the old board members and the new ones are his friends.
This must be resolved if Zimura must make progress., otherwise accusations such as “Zimura is a den of thieves’’ will continue.
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