Sabhuku Vharazipi brews up a storm

By Brenda Phiri

Magical Films director Edward Chombe and creator of popular production Sabhuku Vharazipi series, David Dzatsunga, have described the main characters of the production as “rebels” that broke away from the rest of the team when they did another production and went on a separate national tour.

The main characters David Mubaiwa (Sabhuku Vharazipi),Wellington Chindara (Chairman) and Kumbirai Chikonye (Mbuya Mai John) have allegedly dumped the scriptwriter Dzatsunga and producer Chombe to produce part three of the movie and go on a nationwide tour.

While they said they had no hard feelings towards the “rebels”, Chombe said they felt the need to clear the air as they were picking themselves up and continuing with film production.

Now working with Masvingo production house Wezhira TV, they have since released a new movie “The Seed of Corruption” that is centred on the character of VaMayaya from the first two series.

“I never wanted to speak out of the fear of tarnishing the brand or the Masvingo community where we hail from. Our disagreements were centred on the use of funds that we received from well-wishers. I sourced the first $10 000 that we received from Zimpapers to purchase copy-protected CDs as a way of curbing piracy. They (Mubaiwa and crew) thought it was wiser to share the money and we disagreed over it as we were going against the original plan,” said Chombe.

“As the faces of the production, the rebels eventually walked out with all the money and production equipment that had been bought for the second production.”

He said in total, $17 000 ($10 000 from Zimpapers, $4 000 from Culture Fund and $3 000 from an unnamed organisation) had not been fully accounted for while part of the cast and crew were yet to be paid their dues for part two of the movie.

Among them were villagers from Zvamahande in Masvingo, who had not benefited in spite of their role in making the production a success.

“We have worked on the new production on a tight budget because we are ashamed to go back to corporates or non-governmental organisations for aid. Besides the disagreement with the other guys, we are unable to explain how the money we have obtained before was used,” he said.

The Mubaiwa camp, however, denied the allegations saying they did not owe anyone anything.

“All these allegations are baseless. This is just someone who is trying to gain mileage for his film about Mayaya.

‘‘We never abused any funds because we have evidence on how all the money was used. If we worked for Dzatsunga, let him produce contracts to prove it,” he said.

Efforts to get a breakdown of how the funds were used were fruitless as another ally, Chindara, evaded the questions.

“Dzatsunga is the one who owes us money because he failed to account for the 1 500 copies of our film that he was supposed to sell. In fact, we have evidence that he is the one responsible for pirating our CDs. He needs psychiatric help because he says a lot of nonsense,” said Chindara. The Herald