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Arts Correspondent
President Robert Mugabe has inspired a lot of people in the world. He has worked tirelessly for empowerment of black people, a move that has motivated artist Joshua Mboya to carve a metal sculpture for him.
The Kuwadzana-based artist said he made the 3-metre statue in honour of the President’s works and standing in the world of politics.
“President Mugabe has done a lot for us as black people and there is need to honour him in a big way,” he said. For two years now the artist has been working on the piece that is expected to be finished before the end of the year. Financial problems have been a major challenge for him as he ended up auctioning some of his personal property to fund the project.
“I have been struggling to finance the project and it explains why it took time for to finalise it”, he said.
He will now be able to complete the project following the intervention of musician Suluman Chimbetu who is financing the last stages of the statue.
His wish is to hand over the statue to the President before the end of the year. “I am now putting final touches on the statue and my aim is to hand it over before the end of the year,” he said.
Titled “President Mugabe the African Icon”, the sculpture is made of various pieces of metal and stands tall in a fascinating way.
“We need his legacy to live and coming generations should also remember his Pan-Africanist ideas that are to our advantage as black people,” said Mboya.
The versatile artist said he used about 10 different still pictures of President Mugabe to give the piece enough detail.
Born in Makonde, Mboya did his primary and secondary education in Muriel Mine before relocating to Harare. His grinder and welding machine started to pay him in 2007 when he started his career as a sculptor. His desire to spread the gospel of Pan-Africanism saw him creating statues for various celebrities with blacks at heart.
He has done other pieces of icons such as Bob Marley which, was bought by the government of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the late Vice President Dr Joshua Nkomo. Chimbetu’s publicist Joe “Local” Nyamungoma said they were happy to assist Mboya in completing the work that will honour the President.“We have always been patriotic. That is the legacy we inherited from the late Simon Chimbetu.
“We support empowerment of blacks and we will do our best to ensure that Mboya meets the standards that he has set for the sculpture. We want to do our part to honour our President,” said Nyamungoma.
Online Reporter