Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

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Eight years on, justice is still elusive for the families of 6 people killed and the 35 injured by Zimbabwe state security forces during the August 1, 2018, protests.

Witnesses at the time told Human Rights Watch that military officers and anti-riot police used excessive and lethal force against people who were protesting delayed election results on the streets of Harare, the capital. Security forces indiscriminately fired live ammunition at protesters and bystanders. Among the dead was Sylvia Maposa, a 53-year-old mother of two whom soldiers fatally shot in the back when she was heading home from work that afternoon.

The following day, President Emmerson Mnangagwa called for an independent investigation into the killings and said: “those responsible should be identified and brought to justice.”

Mnangagwa later appointed a commission, known as the Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry, to investigate the violence and make recommendations. Eight years later, Mnangagwa has not implemented the commission’s recommendations, including completing investigations to hold responsible members of the military and police to account.

No security personnel have been arrested or prosecuted, nor has any compensation been provided. Since the August 2018 protest, the government has taken few concrete steps to demonstrate commitment to accountability, justice, and respect for the rule of law. This culture of impunity has bred an atmosphere of governmental abuse and violence. During three days of demonstrations throughout Zimbabwe in January 2019 to protest a fuel price increase, security forces fired live ammunition, killing 17 people, and raped at least 17 women.

Since assuming power in a military coup in 2017, the Mnangagwa administration has committed serious human rights violations and shown a failure or unwillingness to institute lasting human rights reforms. Violence, intimidation, harassment, and repression aimed principally at opposition party members, journalists, students, and civil society activists have severely restricted civic and political space.

Zimbabwe authorities should demonstrate respect for human rights and the rule of law by acting on the recommendations of Motlanthe commission without any further delay and start breaking the country’s cycle of impunity.

Tendai Ruben Mbofani

There was a time when the name Thomas Mapfumo stood as an unshakeable monument to unyielding integrity.

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For over five decades, the Lion of Zimbabwe built a legacy on the foundation of uncompromising principles.

Through the dark days of colonial Rhodesia to the post-independence years of state corruption and economic decay, Mukanya was the acoustic conscience of a suffering nation.

His music was not merely entertainment; it was a sanctuary for the oppressed, an uncompromising voice against state plunder, and a relentless critique of the political patronage that has ruined our country.

When he spoke, we listened, because his words carried the heavy weight of a man who could not be bought.

That is why his initial refusal of controversial tenderpreneur Wicknell Chivayo’s lavish offer was met with such widespread admiration.

When Chivayo dangled a $300,000 house and a $200,000 luxury vehicle in front of the legendary artist, Mapfumo did what true icons do: he rejected it.

He publicly called out the offer for what it was—dirty money, a political bribe aimed at buying his silence and neutralizing his moral authority.

He reminded us that his dignity was not for sale and that he would never feast on the crumbs of a system that starves ordinary citizens.

Mapfumo even openly mocked fellow artists like Ba Troy, Seh Calaz, and Mathias Mhere for accepting Chivayo’s gifts, dismissing them as desperate beggars who were easily enticed like naive children by “dangled toys.”

In that moment, Mukanya validated the faith millions had placed in him for generations.

Yet today, that towering legacy lies severely tarnished under the weight of a staggering paradox.

Mapfumo has now accepted an eye-watering $1 million from the very same Chivayo to perform at his private birthday celebration and Jah Prayzah’s wedding.

The sudden somersault is as breathtaking as it is disappointing.

How does money that was declared toxic, corrupt, and compromised when attached to a house and a car suddenly become immaculate when packaged as a performance fee?

Mapfumo’s current defense is that this is simply “zvebasa izvi”—just work, a purely commercial arrangement between an artist and a client.

He insists that performing for a client does not equate to political endorsement or moral compromise.

But this line of reasoning is a hollow shield that collapses under the lightest scrutiny.

Laundered through a contract or handed over in an envelope, the source of that money has not changed by a single cent.

If the funds were born of opaque state tenders and political patronage yesterday, they carry the exact same lineage today.

Wrapping a million dollars in the vocabulary of a business transaction does not cleanse it of its origin, nor does it sanitize the ethical failure of accepting it.

If Mapfumo labeled Chivayo’s money “dirty” yesterday, what has suddenly made it “clean” today?

What makes this betrayal even more bitter is Mapfumo’s astonishing turn as Chivayo’s public defender.

In his recent media interviews, Mukanya went so far as to challenge the public, accusing people of hypocrisy for targeting Chivayo while remaining silent on other wealthy figures.

​He even praised Chivayo for “giving back” to artists and the community—conveniently forgetting that he was mocking those very same recipients not so long ago.

To hear the Lion of Zimbabwe adopt the standard rhetoric of patronage beneficiaries—using selective philanthropy to justify questionable wealth—is nothing short of tragic.

​To demand that ordinary Zimbabweans report Chivayo to law enforcement if they suspect corruption is the height of disingenuousness.

Mapfumo knows better than anyone that in a nation governed by a deeply entrenched patronage system, state institutions are structured to protect political elites, not investigate them.

For a man who himself declared Chivayo’s wealth “dirty” without needing a court verdict, hiding behind the shield of due process now is nothing short of intellectual dishonesty.

Mapfumo scolds the public for applying the exact moral standard that he spent fifty years teaching them to hold.

For decades, his music urged Zimbabweans to reject the flashiness of corrupt elites and to demand accountability.

Now, when his audience holds him to the very standard he established, he deflects by asking why others are not being criticized.

Mukanya cannot have it both ways.

He cannot claim the mantle of the nation’s moral conscience while collecting million-dollar checks from the champions of the status quo.

By putting a price tag on his engagement, he has demonstrated that his initial rejection was not a matter of absolute principle, but merely a question of the figure on the check.

The Lion has not lost his voice, but he has certainly changed his tune.

In accepting Chivayo’s million dollars, Mapfumo may have secured a massive payday, but he has surrendered something far more valuable: the absolute trust of the people who once saw him as incorruptible.

So, Mukanya, tell the nation: at what exact figure did the money become clean?

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to contact him on +263715667700 or mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com