Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
When he heard that music group Insimbi ZeZhwane lost two of their members on the Victoria Falls-Bulawayo highway when their vehicle veered off the road and hit a tree, Thandazani Nyoni’s mind immediately raced back to 2006.
That year, on another highway, in another vehicle, yet another rhumba maestro’s life had come to a sudden end. Abson Ndebele, the man who lost his life that day, was one of Ndolwane Super Sounds’ founding members, the bedrock of a group that had changed the face of rhumba music in Zimbabwe at the end of the 20th century.
However, on that fateful day in 2006, as he was just about to pass Kwekwe, his life came to a screeching and heartbreaking halt. To make a heartbreaking situation twice tragic, Ndebele was on his way to bury fellow musician, Last Fatiya, who had also passed away.
“Accidents are there but we have been lucky enough to avoid a lot of accidents as a group,” said Nyoni, Martin and Ndolwane Super Sounds’ marketing manager. “However, in 2006, we lost Abson, one of the founders of Ndolwane Super Sounds. He was in Kwekwe, going to Harare. It was a sad loss and when this accident involving MaEli and Maviri happened, it took me back to 2006, when we lost our leader.
He was actually going to another funeral because we had lost other guys that used to play with Ndolwane. Instead, he never reached Harare, soon after he reached Kwekwe, his story was over. It was a painful experience because his impact is still being felt and its painful to realise that the road has taken so many great artistes from us,” he said.
In Zimbabwe, accidents are a common but tragic occurrence. Last year, the Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona revealed that the country loses as many 2 000 people to road accidents every year.
When Insimbi ZeZhwane’s Toyota Hilux veered off the road and hit a tree near Fatima High School turn off, along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway, they became part of a gruesome statistic that has authorities scratching their heads bald with worry every year.
However, for artistes, who usually find themselves on the road late at night or early morning, often for long distances, highways have become graveyards that they just cannot avoid because of the economic consequences of not travelling.
In an era where royalty payments or album sales are no longer the lifeblood of artistes, performances in far flung venues are usually the only way for artistes to earn a living.
The desperation to earn what they deserve from their craft has meant that they are constantly at risk, particularly as they do not have the means to hire dedicated drivers or maintain their cars. While there are no indications that the Insimbi ZeZhwane accident was anyone’s fault, for artistes that spoke to Sunday Life, it was a traumatic reminder that their lives might be in peril whenever they get on the road.
“This issue has left us in a state of shock. This was a young talent that we were convinced would go on to shake and change the industry. Accidents happen all the time and our roads are not in a great state but what I want to say to people is, their cars should be always serviced and roadworthy. Sometimes, because our economy is hard, we don’t realise that a manager of a group will be busy throughout the night, trying to make sure that everything is running smoothly. The artiste himself will be performing all night and we get tired but we ended up driving after all that.
“It is not advisable but that is what we do because sometimes our pockets don’t allow us to do anything else. If possible, we should have drivers who would be sleeping while we are performing so that they are fresh for the journey when the performance is finished. Most of the time, as artistes we drive ourselves. That is okay if we have rested but, in most instances, it costs us big time. It would be more helpful to have an independent driver that does not perform but is there just to drive the band from one point to another,” said Nyoni.
Getting help that is professional was a hard task, Nyoni said, as some drivers were also keen to enjoy band’s performances instead of resting for the journey ahead.
“Sometimes even that is not enough, because you have to monitor that he is truly sleeping as some of them need to be monitored because they love the music and they end up joining the crowd to dance and enjoy while the band is playing. It might be a small thing but at the end of the day, it does take a great toll on the band if something goes wrong. As Ndolwane we also used to drive ourselves but at the end of the day we realised that we were putting ourselves in danger as well,” he said.
His point was echoed by fellow musician, Jeys Marabini, who has found himself making the long-distance trek to Harare often recently.
“It was very unfortunate to see them lose their lives in this manner. What I can say is that our roads really need to be fixed but also as artistes we should make sure that we maintain safe speeds when on the road and not rush for anything. It is a must that we also thoroughly check our tyres and brakes before embarking on any journey because human life is delicate and you don’t want to leave anything to chance. Accidents happen all the time but we can do our best to minimise the risk. Our cars are not always in top shape but the truth is that as musicians we sometimes don’t make enough money to make sure that the cars are always in top condition,” he said.
Hip-hop artiste Asaph said after a few scares in his own career, he had found it better to structure contracts in a way that would allow him to travel a day earlier before gigs. Getting promoters to agree to this however, was the hard task.
“As far as the risk is concerned, I think it’s up to the way we structure our performance contracts with promoters. If there’s a possible way you can’t travel the day you’re performing, for example, travelling the day before, then you should have it that way. If travel can be done the day before, so that we are not in a rush to meet the performance time, it would be helpful. Ideally, we should travel during the day when everyone is not in a rush.
“The thing with accidents is that they are just that, accidents. They just happen and the best thing you can do is to ask people to make better arrangements with their contracts or stuff like that. It means engaging with promoters because this is a really tricky subject. I once had a scare of my own and it was because we were rushing, coming from Harare to Bulawayo, for an event that was on that very same day. Based on my experience, travel should be done a day before the event when people are not rushing,” he said.
Sources say Inzimbi ZeZhwane was misled and travelled to Binga from Tsholotsho for a national event when in actual fact the event was in Mashonaland East province. The accident happened when the group was racing against time to reach the Mashonaland East gig, a journey that they would have finished at night after leaving Binga in the morning. Two members died after the car they were travelling in burst a tyre and hit a tree. The late leader of the group, Elvis “MaEli” Mathe was declared a provincial hero by Government. Group drummer, Thembinkosi “Maviri” Mpofu also died in the mishap.