MUTARE – Outspoken protest musician Hosiah Chipanga claims that he is viewed as mentally unstable by the country’s ruling elite, with those close to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, refusing to take his ideas seriously.
Chipanga has come under the spotlight recently after he was said to have been bought for US$500 after his performance at the recent launch of the Presidential War Veterans Fund and related initiatives at Dewedzo High School in Makoni West constituency.
The musician has in the past been critical of government.
In an interview with The Standard, Chipanga said he had tried to present some of his ideas about the running of the country to President Mnangagwa and his predecessor, the late President Robert Mugabe.
“I tried to have a word with Mugabe and Mnangagwa one-on-one on numerous occasions in trying to tell him solutions to the country’s problems, but I was blocked by certain government officials (names withheld),” he said.
“Those that were around Mugabe and still others that are close to Mnangagwa think I am mad. I have gone to the high political offices with my ideas, but, they just dismiss me like an insane man. But I will not budge because I have a lot I know that is hidden from the living.”
Chipanga said while he might be looked at as a critic of the government, he felt that he was playing an advisory role.
“I have never been against the government of the day; I have always been in a spiritual advisory role,” he said.
Chipanga took a swipe of those that had been critical of him recently, as he seemingly cosied up to Zanu-PF officials, as he claimed that they had not supported him when he was down and out.
“No one was with me during these difficult times,” he said.
“Where were they when l needed them most? All along, l have been labelled an enemy of the state as my messages were misinterpreted, as they failed to interpret the actual meaning and objective of my song. My mission is to just give ideas from the uppermost spiritual world.”
