By Bridget Mananavire
Rapper Tendai Nguni aka Tehn Diamond has a dream — he wants to be the president of Zimbabwe in 2042.
His other dream is to work hard on developing a viable creative sector and has promised to deliver a special Independence Day message dubbed Tisu Ngoda Dzacho where he will talk about issues that have been affecting the creative industry and coming up with solutions.
He added that while he is gunning for the 2042 presidency, in the meantime he will work and create a platform for a better Zimbabwe because the present government had betrayed him in many ways.
In a series of videos on social media, the rapper spoke about how government has failed and stolen from the people.
“The first is that more than anything I would like to re-brand Zimbabwe, position us as the beautiful resilient, incredibly intelligent nation of people that we are.
“The second is to build a thriving creative economy, the kind of environment where someone like me can be born and say ‘I wanna be a singer, actor or a dancer, rapper or whatever’ and it will be fine.
“Over the next five days I will be breaking down for you the core problems I believe creative industry faces in the country. On the 18th of April I am going to tell you why that should matter to you and what we can do about it.”
He gave a brief background about how it all began with broken dreams after the government ‘‘stole’’ diamond revenue which was supposed to change people’s lives.
“Do you remember a number of years ago when the diamonds where discovered in Marange, do you remember how you felt. I remember how I felt as a Zimbabwean. It had been years and years of slowly watching the economy deteriorate; watching loved ones head to the Diaspora to try and make a better living.
“We tried hearing about this diamond wealth that our nation has, we all started getting really excited, we were hopeful again, we had been resilient all these years, ah zvichanaka chete, our main thing, we are resilient house of stone; Zimbabweans make a plan. I think at the time I was quarter to dropping my degree in Australia to pursue this music thing.
“I was telling all my friends, hey I’m going home, we have diamonds, I don’t need you, it’s our time now. And I am an optimist I believe in people, I believe in potential, and they were telling me, you will learn soon. And I said nah we’ve got this; there are too many diamonds, it didn’t work out, they robbed us. Is it $15 billion or is it not?”
He said he lost faith in our government.
“So to that end I put out a song in 2014 called Simudza Gumbo and in that song I shared my frustrations and my new found belief. I said regardless of the rocks in Marange, tisu ngoda dzacho dzese, there is nothing we can’t do if we all unite. That’s what I believed in and that’s what I still believe in and that’s what I hold on to.
“That’s how it’s been for me since. F**k the government, invest in us, look into your own potential; it’s been what four, five years?”
“And a few weeks ago, it had me, you can’t do it alone; I stayed up about two nights on end scribbling, writing, plotting and planning. See I had an epiphany and once I had done writing I ran to my dad (former minister Sylvester Nguni), so years of planning and I said dad you know what in 2042 I am gonna be the president, see I woke up and I realised you can’t just go and invest in yourself, we need the government they exist so let’s go and set up a better government.
“I can be a part of a better government, let me do that…I have been a musician for all these years, it really hasn’t done my dad any favours in fact when I think, shame, it must have been an embarrassing period because no one wants their child in Zimbabwe to be a creative.
“He said something to me very important and asked; ‘what is it that you intend to do as president that you can’t do as you are?’ I thought about it, I was a bit deflated, I thought I was going to step up and be a part of this system and try and help fix things from the inside, like I know he had tried to do, but I searched my soul and asked what’s my purpose in life, and I arrived at two things that I would like to do as president…” DailyNews