Tinashe Mugabe accused of stealing ‘The Closure DNA show’ idea
By Keith Mlauzi | Nehanda Showbiz |
Controversial Radio and Television personality Tinashe Mugabe is being accused of stealing the idea of a DNA television show which was meant to he hosted by comedian Madam Boss after it was pitched to him.
On Tuesday a social media user by the name Tanaka Vibes Dube took to social media alleging that he and his friends pitched the Idea to Mugabe months before he made his debut appearance on television as host of the Closure DNA show.
“Tinashe Mugabe stole our DNA paternity show Baba Ndiani months after we approached him for a collaboration.
“Madam Boss was supposed to host the show, we even had a meeting with her at Rainbow Towers pertaining the show, the show was created by Rumbidzai Chihera Mambokadzi, myself, Nomagee Sibanda and Munya,” read Tanaka’s rant.
Tanaka also posted screengrabs of their program proposal and a conversation with Mugabe on Facebook Messenger.
Part of the posted conversation between Mugabe and Rumbidzai shows that the former was approached by the latter who inquired how much it was to do a DNA test but did not have further discussions on Messenger as Mugabe gave her his WhatsApp number for direct contact.
Tanaka continued saying they were still working on the show when they found out that Mugabe was was already running with the idea.
“We were still working on the show when we found out that Tinashe was already doing it without us yet we had discussed it with him.”
They tried reaching out to Mugabe but to no avail.
“Recently we tried having a meeting with him and he kept on posting and surely it’s not good that one person capitalises on other people’s idea, he could’ve at least told us before producing the show,” added Tanaka.
Mugabe is not new to controversy, recently the Medical Laboratory and Clinical Scientists Council of Zimbabwe released a statement rubbishing his show saying he was not authorized to carry out DNA tests.
In 2019 he was accused of providing false DNA results to a desperate Australian based woman, Abigail (Abii) who was searching for her family after she was abandoned a few days after her birth in August 1983.
In an interview with a local radio station Mugabe however said, it was a case of fraud and he was framed.
“What happened is we tested her sister and it was a match. When we gave her the news she was happy and the issue was all over the world. We were yet to test the mother but the Australian media company filming the documentary was already in Zimbabwe and everyone was now involved.
“We allowed them to film the documentary without involving us. We wanted to test the father but he ran away… The DNA presented on that documentary was mine, if you look at the serial number you will see that they had used my DNA,” said Mugabe.
He also added that they were suing the company.
“Our legal team is working on the right procedures against that company,” he added.
Efforts to contact Mugabe for a comment were fruitless as his phone was not reachable and did not go through. Nehanda Radio
