adminGLOWING eulogies of luminaries have become something quite common in our media once such icons die.
Well-articulated obituaries are compiled as a way of celebrating the lives of the departed legends.
These eulogies are meant to give mourners a clear and beautiful picture of the departed.
Touching graveside speeches then follow.
We see close friends, workmates and children being tasked with this job.
The trying times of bereavement are never short of their fair share of drama.
There are also those who have mastered the knack of helping mourners ease their pain.
This is executed by performing antics imitating the dead, known as chisahwira, in Shona.
This is meant to comfort the bereaved families during, and after the burial, of their loved ones.
It’s always hard to be a witness when the bodies of our icons are lowered into their graves.
It’s a gentle reminder that we are all visitors on this planet.
However, in this era of cyberbullying and exaggeration, lies are usually peddled by attention-seekers using ghost accounts.
This is meant to divert attention.
But, what really concerns us is that some of these icons are given big send-offs yet they struggled for medication, love and food during their last days.
Bulawayo-based playwright, film-maker and theatre guru Cont Mhlanga, who died yesterday, instantly comes to mind.
He had been in hospital for 10 days.
A celebrated cultural icon, Cont did a lot in nurturing and grooming stars.
He made Bulawayo and Matabeleland a conveyor belt of cultural ambassadors.
With a traceable history in the cultural and creative industries, which dates back to 1982, he is hard to ignore.
Cont, the brains behind Amakhosi, which started off as a youth karate club and later switched to professional theatre in 1988, did a lot for the arts sector.
Like most icons of his generation, he died a bitter man because he was unhappy with the plight of the actors in our creative sector.
Now that he is gone, we need to be honest and fair as we celebrate our icons.
We are tired of people who utilise burials and funerals of such icons, simply to get mileage.
Such burials should never be allowed to be hijacked by attention seekers.
Those who preside over these funerals should be men and women of repute.
Like any other man, Cont might have had his fair share of weaknesses but this is the right time to celebrate his life.
He created many jobs in the arts sector and his footprints will always be difficult to erase.
Honouring people like Cont in their life should be the norm.
It’s about us simply doing the right thing.
This was the case in recent years when NAMA remembered him among the icons of Zimbabwean culture.
The bottom line is that we should have done more for Cont.
He deserved it because he earned it.
He was a hero in our creative sector and we should have shown him more love, in his living years, like the love we are trying to show him, now that he is gone.C
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter