Prince Tendai battling motor neurone disease

By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka

Barbed wire singer Prince Tendai Mupfurutsa, who is battling a motor neurone disease which has affected his mobility and speech, has unveiled a new album titled “Something Mysterious” narrating his ordeal. The album comprises new and yesteryear hits.

Now, the singer has taken to song to explain the split-second twist of fate that ended his hyperactive social and business life.

“Mama take a good look at me/something ain’t right/take a good look into my eye, they ain’t shining bright/mama take a good look at me now/ something ain’t right/ take a good look into my eyes/ do you think I’ll survive,” he sings in one verse.

Prince Tendai currently in China, said it all started in September last year before “the big rains came in.”

“The first thing I can remember there was pain in my arm . . . the second thing I can remember I couldn’t play my guitar. Then the doctor said this one he can’t fix/and the pastor gave me a verse to read. Then the doctor said he doesn’t understand and the pastor said let’s kneel down and pray. Something mysterious for sure is a mystery,” he sings.

Degeneration of the motor neurones leads to weakness and wasting of muscles, causing increasing loss of mobility in the limbs, and difficulties with speech, swallowing and breathing. Also featured on the album is – Tendai Jnr – his son and the talented boy band, Soulbone.

Other songs that make good listening include smash hits – “November Rain”, “Zimbolicious”, “Character”, “Chipo Babe”, “Kuyaura”, “Mapere Nemazizi”, “Zambara”, a Nyanja song as well as “Forward Zimbabwe”. According to media reports, Prince Tendai cannot handle objects properly and his speech is hardly audible.

“I have not been very active in the past months because my condition does not allow me to engage in a lot of active tasks,” he once said. “I do not feel any pain and the condition has neither worsened nor improved. Doctors have told me that my nerves no longer function properly and they say it is a result of an accident that I was involved in last year. It is either because of shock or impact.”

You cannot help but feel sorry for the man whose life took a turn when he was involved in an accident in September last year in which his Mercedes Benz ML was destroyed. Since the accident, Prince Tendai has not seen the wreckage and does not have the edge to do so.

“I do not have the guts to go and see the car. Panel beaters have told me that it is beyond repair and it has been parked at some garage since the accident. I did not feel much pain after the accident but these complications surfaced a month later,” he was quoted as saying.

He, however, was optimistic that his next visits to international medical centres would yield positive results since he has made enough research to establish where he can get appropriate assistance. But it is not all gloom and doom as Prince Tendai is able to jog every morning and go to work every day although he cannot engage in professional discussions properly.

Speculation had been rife that Prince Tendai’s condition could have been a result of huge financial losses after he brought in R&B singer Akon and dancehall star Sean Paul to Harare for a concert, a claim he has since refuted.