I am a fan of Leonard Dembo. Since I was born.
The guitars, the voice, the drums — Dembo raised me.
Dembo himself did not go far in school. But he gave us Chitekete. A well-meaning song, pregnant with realities. Realities which, if we are not careful, we misinterpret.
That is exactly what has happened in Gabriel Manyati’s recent critique. He argues that Chitekete “romanticises unhealthy obsession” and is therefore not worthy of being called Zimbabwe’s greatest song.
I am not a writer, but a reader. Yet today, after reading an article that undresses and demeans the song, I am compelled to respond in defence of Chitekete — an all-time hit deeply entrenched in the minds and souls of both the living and the departed.
With respect, he got it wrong. He read poetry as a patient file.
Firstly: Chitekete is not about obsession. It is about poverty vs love
Manyati quotes: “Watondipa musengwa handichakwanisa kufunga kana kurara.”
And calls it “emotional imprisonment” and “limerence”.
He missed the context.
Dembo was not singing about a man who cannot function because a woman rejected him. He was singing about a man weighed down by reality. In 1980s Zimbabwe, musengwa was not just heartbreak. It was lobola, school fees, rent, transport, and having “no shoes”.
The sleeplessness is not clinical obsession. It is the sleeplessness of every poor man who loves a woman but cannot yet provide. Every Zimbabwean who grew up in Sakubva, Highfield, or Mbare knows that feeling. Dembo gave it a voice.
Secondly: “Dandemutande and seso” are not about boundaries. They are about class
Manyati’s most forced reading is that “pane dandemutande, pane seso rinobaya, zvandisina shangu ndokutoraseiko?” means “she is already taken” and that he is trying to cross boundaries he shouldn’t.
That is not Shona poetry. That is projection.
In Shona, dandemutande and seso are classic metaphors for poverty and hardship. No shoes means no resources. The barbs represent the system that makes it hard for a poor man to marry. The webs represent neglect — a home that looks abandoned because there is no money to maintain it.
Dembo was describing economic distance, not moral trespass. To read it as “she belongs to someone else” strips the song of its social truth and turns a working-class anthem into gossip.
Thirdly: “Ndashaya maitiro” is not surrender. It is determination
Manyati hears: “I have run out of ways” and calls it defeat.
But listen to the music. The guitars rise. The tempo pushes forward. Dembo does not sound like a man giving up. He sounds like a man taking stock of his challenges so he can overcome them.
This is the same spirit that built Zimbabwe after 1980. You name the problem: no money, no strategy, no way. Then you find one.
Chitekete is about the real struggles of love and poverty, and the strength and zeal to overcome those challenges so that the mind, the body, and one’s behaviour can eventually find lasting happiness.
Also: “Majerasi” is not delusion. It is reality
Manyati says the jealousy Dembo sings about is “perceived”. Ask any man who tried to marry in Zimbabwe in the 80s and 90s. Family politics, rivals, aunties, and “majekiseni” were real.
Dembo was not inventing villains. He was documenting the social friction poor lovers faced. That is why the song still resonates at weddings today. People lived it.
Chitekete transcends lyrics, borders, and generations
This is why the criticism is ill-timed. Chitekete is not surviving because of lyric analysis. It is surviving because of the music itself.
It is the wires. The drums. The organized percussion. The beautiful voice.
That is why it was played at a beauty pageant in Namibia. Even those who cannot understand the words can hear what the drums and guitars are saying.
Three decades after its release, people who were not born when it came out still embrace Chitekete emotionally, psychologically, and socially. Weddings. Dedications. Dance floors. Radio.
That is proof. The song transcends and cuts across all dimensions, regardless of any attempt to poke loosely translated holes in it.
In its original form, Chitekete has survived the test and pressure of all contemporary genres. It continues to rule the entertainment industry.
The verdict
Is Chitekete an unhealthy portrayal of love? No.
It is a timeless, ageless, placeless expression of the human heart.
Let us not belittle a beautiful master stroke.
Dembo did not tell us to be obsessed. He told us what it feels like to want, to wait, to be broke but in love, to be far but faithful — and to keep fighting. That is not pathology. That is humanity. That is Zimbabwe.
To judge Chitekete as if it were a counselling session is to ask poetry to behave like a pamphlet.
Long live Chitekete. A song that remains the greatest of all time.
Long live Leonard Dembo, the Master of Sungura.
Blessing Calvin Mushariwa writes from Masvingo, Zimbabwe
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