Zima still to finish Cde Chinx’s house

By Sharon Muguwu

HARARE – Organisers of the Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) have admitted that they were too ambitious when they promised to build a house for Comrade Chinx in less than six months.

Zima re-emerged last year after a seven-year hiatus and honoured musician and liberation war hero Dick Chingaira, better known as Comrade Chinx, for his contribution to music and the liberation struggle.

The hilarious musician was presented with keys to the house during the 2014 Zima ceremony held at the Harare International Conference Centre in October last year but more than a year later the house located in Sentosa, Mabelreign is still incomplete.

A visit to the house by the Daily News crew this week, showed that not much has changed since a media tour by journalists to the house in October last year.

Zima publicist Farai Chapoterera conceded in an interview with the Daily News that they had underestimated the task at hand.

“If you ask anyone, building a house is a tall order. We were ambitious as we wanted him to move in by Christmas in 2014 but it is hard. As you know, he has not been feeling well and we were worried that we might not be able to fulfil our promise to him, but we are relieved that he is better now.

“We have done most of the building and we are waiting for more resources. We approached a few people, potential sponsors to help us finish off. We are left with tiling, plumbing and some of the little stuff but we are financially strained,” she said.

She added that people should not solely put their focus on the house as there other worthy events being undertaken by Zima.

“While the house is being built, there is something else we are doing with Comrade Chinx. We are working on a documentary on his life. We went to Rusape where he was born and Chimoio where he told us he joined the liberation war. We are hoping that by the time we finish editing, we would have completed building the house.

“The documentary is important in that it is something that we will always be remembered by. Maybe in the next five years, people would already have forgotten that Zima built a house for him, but the documentary will always be there for them to watch,” said Chapoterera. Daily News