Promising urban grooves singer Sanii Makhalima may have signed the death certificate for his budding music career after he agreed to be used by Zanu PF to spruce up the image of brutal dictator Robert Mugabe.
Makhalima’s latest project, Get Connected, hastily put together under the name Born Free Crew seeks to win support for Mugabe among the youths by portraying him as a ‘cool’ leader who is youthful and street wise.
The album was presented to Mugabe last month amid signs his handlers are now looking for young musicians to help charm young voters away from the MDC. In one video, played frequently on state television, Mugabe sits in his office, picks up a cellphone and asks his young sister at the end of the line, “Zvirisei-sei?”, the Zimbabwe equivalent of “Wassup?”.
If you needed evidence of how Makhalima misjudged the mood amongst his fans then his facebook page was the place to go ‘I had so much respect for you Sanii. You just lost it. Shame!’ was what one Shumirai Daisy Chirapa said. More directly Esther Chamisa-Grant reminded Sanii that he was enjoying his current status as a musician because of his fans’ support and not Zanu PF.
One reader warned ‘this young man is destroying his career for a mosel of sadza. He must ask the likes of Andy Brown,Tambaoga etc who were used like condoms by Zanu PF and later dumped after their careers were destroyed and their names tarnished. Chenjera mufana, chati homu chareva.’
A defiant Sanii has meanwhile told journalists ‘I respect the President, and if people are unhappy with that, they are not my true fans. They have to accept me for who I am.’
