US$17 000 Harare birthday party in pictures

By Nigel Pfunde

He is young, urbane and rich. He recently hosted an all-white party that has become the talk of the town. Twenty-Six year old Genius Kadungure has caused quite a stir after he hosted a lavish birthday party that has sent some tongues wagging. The party was held on October 9 at his Greystone Park home and the dress code was strictly all white.

Of course not everyone follows instructions – one came in black while another wore purple. While the all-white party took place on a Saturday, the birthday celebrations lasted three days:

Day One =all white party.

Day Two =family only

Day Three=swimming

Genius was celebrating his 26th birthday and like African-American hip hop mogul P Diddy, Genius has made it a tradition to throw such lavish parties every year ever since he was 24- years- old.

The party gobbled a staggering US$17 000! In an interview with H-Metro this week, Genius confirmed the figure. “Yes I forked out US$17 000 to host this party. I was never assisted by any one, it all came from my pocket because I wanted to make the day a special one for me.

“Birthdays come once a year and I needed to please myself.

“Besides I have the money to spoil myself. Zvaitirwa kuti zvityise muface wangu,” said Genius. The party was filled with ‘swag’ and it attracted guests from the so-called big spenders and stylish people in town! One could not afford not to notice the bevy of pretty ladies who were drawn from the executive circles and the free spirited ladies about town.

Pictures from the party

Beer guzzlers were spoilt for choice as there was full bar and catering including expensive whiskey like Johnny Walker Black Label, Chivaz Regal, Hennesy and all the expensive liquors one can think of. Guests were popping cris (beer) like it was water!

Notable guests included former television personality Makanaka Wakatama, footballer Harlington Shereni (who is believed to have flown in specifically for the party), businesswoman Mary Mubaiwa (former wife to Shingi Kawondera) among other socialites.

The former “Change Money” gurus were present while music was played by Harare ’s finest wheel spinners T-Bass and Pee Styles although Genius could not reveal how much he was charged. The party started off with Genius taking a tour around the city in a Hummer-Limousine that cost him US$1 000 for four hours!

He was in the company of his right hand man and most trusted lieutenant only identified as Kit-Kat. Their first stop was Avondale Shopping Centre before proceeding to Mereki and their convoy was a head-turner. He was accompanied by some beautiful ladies who were peeping through the sun roof of the limo sipping on some gin and juice. Genius was holding a walking stick in the same fashion like the African-American hip-hop artistes popularly referred to as “ballers”!

He is single, he said. “I am not married and I am very much single. Of course a lot of ladies might want a piece of me but you know how it is. I just have to keep it cool,” said Genius. However, there are reports that some ladies fought for Genius at the party in a typical ‘the boy is mine’ fashion.

Sources say there were MANY of Genius’ ex-girlfriends at the party and they tried to have a piece of him for much of the night – trying to outshine each other.

“I’ve heard people talk about an ugly confrontation between my supposed girlfriends but it never happened. Some of my ex-girlfriends were there and obviously there will be tension at certain stages of such an event.

“But that tension was never noticed. There might have been intentions to fight but no one fought and in fact it would not have happened because there was security to ensure that there were no fights,” said Genius. Interestingly, Genius moved around with bouncers and avoided hanging out with the ladies, thereby defusing any potential explosive situations. Genius did NOT want any gifts from the guests as this could have also caused ‘unnecessary tension’ and the cake was actually not eaten.

It was thrown into the air. It seemed he was also avoiding an explosive situation that would have been created by the traditional cake-cutting and “happy birthday” singing. However, Genius claimed that he was doing things his own way. “No, I just do my things differently, I didn’t want to waste time blowing candles and stuff,” he said.

Don’t use Juju

By Nigel Pfunde

Flamboyant businessman Genius Kadungure says his money is clean — all of it has come from selling gas! With people questioning why one would spend US$17 000 on a birthday party, there were suggestions that his money might be dirty.

He finished school at the age of 17 and two years later he was driving a Mercedes Benz S320 and at 24 Genius owned a fleet of 11 cars including a BMW X5, Dodge Viper, BMW 7 series among other luxury vehicles!

Suggestions of illegal deals were made. There are those who claim that are number of ‘rich’ youths in the capital are making money from a ‘high profile’ homosexuality network involving foreign multi-millionaires. Then some family members strongly believe that he uses juju, a suspicion that is so strong that some of them did not even turn up for the party.

However, Genius says all this is very FAR from the truth. His money is from hardwork, he claims. “Well, it pains me so much that after the hard work that has taken me to where I am right now, some people then accuse me of using juju. Worse still its some members of my family at our rural homestead in Domboshawa strongly believe that I’m using juju to make money.

“I offer financial assistance to my relatives but some of them just want to soil my name. I single-handedly finance all the funerals and functions at my rural home in Domboshava. But instead of appreciating, some are wondering where I’m getting the money and for some reason they settled for juju. Some have started distancing themselves from me but Hazvitimise kutsvaga bag Wangu.

“Is it a crime that I am the richest person in my family,” he asked. Genius’s “haters” suggested that the all-white party was part of his rituals to appease his spirits so that he makes more money.

However, Genius said that he has always been holding parties since he was 24 years old. “I have been holding these parties from way back. This was celebrating my birthday with friends, how can you appease spirits with Johnny Walker Whiskey and limousines?” said Genius scoffing at the allegations.

But how has he managed to acquire so much wealth at such a fairly young age? Genius said that soon after high school in 2001 he started off as a middleman selling gas and at the age of 20, he had stepped up his sales after commanding a wide network of clientele.

“Man, its all about good marketing skills and networking. You can make money out of anything as long as you know where and who to sell it to.

“Like myself, I know where to get gas and where to sell it without cheating my customers,” said Genius. Genius said that he then roped in the services of his right hand man and marketing genius Farai (Kit Kat) and started importing gas under the banner of his company Pioneer Gases.

Genius then added other enterprises under his wings and he now owns City Centre Freight, a transporting company that also complements his gas company. At the moment he owns seven cars but he said he prefers to drive only two. “I prefer driving the Range Rover,” he said.

He also says while the money he has is enough to qualify him as rich, he is still very far from getting there as he does NOT own multiple properties or companies. “For now I have enough to live comfortably but certainly not to be considered among the rich people of this country, I’ve just done better than most people of my age.”