Promoter takes a dig at Sulumani

By Tatenda Mabasa | Mutare Bureau |

RUSAPE – German-based events promoter Irene Dale was on Saturday left seething with anger after Sulumani Chimbetu pitched up two hours late for the show he was billed to perform at her premises in Rusape.

Dale took a huge dig at Sulu, who she said might be the most sought after musician, but was unprofessional and lacks respect for business contracts.

Sulu went on to give a subdued performance that lasted only two hours, leaving the 126 fans that had paid their way into the entertainment cathedral feeling cheated.

Tendai Dembo – who was leading the Barura Express in the absence of Morgan, gave a good account of himself and proved to be seriously on a mission to revive their father’s Leonard Musorowenyoka Dembo’s legacy.

The youngster’s prowess on the lead guitar, dance floor and vocals endeared himself to fans that he left asking for more. He took fans through the memory lane by belting their late father’s anthemic hits that include Chitekete, Madhiri and Kukura Hakutani.

The show promoter however had some unkind words for Sulu:

“Sulu should not think he has made it already. He still has a long way to go before he could be rated an iconic artist. This was my first time to deal with him, but he has proved to be very unprofessional. He willfully violated our contract by pitching up late and did not show any remorse,” said Dale.

“Our contract stipulates that he was supposed to be on the stage by 11pm, but he pitched up at 1am, which shows that he probably left wherever he was at exactly the same time he was supposed to be on the stage. He sabotaged our occasion because by the time he pitched up, hundreds of people had given up hope.

“The guy was so unprofessional that his manager was the first to arrive without the band demanding that I pay them the balance I owed them and I refused. He was prioritising money without looking at how much their unprofessional conduct had affected my business. In the end the show flopped with only 126 people paying their way. This behavior will not take him anywhere. He should have respect for business contracts as well as his fans.”

Its understood Sulu was double booked on the fateful day as he had to first perform at a function organised by Tourism Minister, Walter Mzembi in Renco Mine. He failed to beat the 11pm that he was supposed to perform in Rusape by at least two hours, much to the chagrin of the show organisers and fans.

“What surprises me is that he exudes such a big-headed attitude when he is performing locally, but when he is in Europe, he performs around the clock. His band performs like slaves that you will feel for them, but when its home, they do business with such a low opinion of their local fans and promoters yet we are sacrificing so much to make them who they are,” fumed the Germany-based businesswoman.

Sulu’s public relations manager, Joe “Local” Nyamungoma, said “I think we were late by one or so hours. We had an emergency call up to perform at Minister Mzembi’s function at Renco Mine. We could not let him down as we thought we will still be able to get to Rusape on time. We were delayed resulting in us failing to be here on time.

“I admit we arrived late. We want to apologise to Ms Dale and our fans for being late. Please bear with us. It is not a question of being too big headed or unprofessional, but as you know we are needed everywhere. We were delayed,” he said.

This was the third time that Sulu has pitched up late at the same venue.

The first occasion was in 2011 when the venue was being run by Rajoo Nathoo and the second was in 2012. In both incidents there was crowd trouble as fans demanded their money back claiming that the promoter had duped them.

Max Village is an entertainment cathedral at the heart of Rusape’s Vengere that is on the rebound and Sulu’s show, marked the official reopening its leisure doors to the public but failed to give the owner the jump she had looked forward to.

Max Village, whose prominence has been fluctuating with changing hands of tenants, reverts back to its original and Germany-based owner Irene Dale. The venue has been spruced up to match modern standards in the entertainment industry that include some state-of-the-art casinos.