No Xmas cheer for ‘Wapenga Nayo Bonus’ hitmaker

Veronica Gwaze recently in RUSAPE

IT is almost midday and Rusape town is a hive of activity as residents go about their last-minute Christmas shopping.

Boutiques and shopping malls are livelier, as money and goods quickly exchange hands.

Excitement is clearly written all over the usually sleepy town.

For most families, Christmas is a time to meet, eat, drink and make merry.

This is, however, not the case for Patrick Mukwamba, a yesteryear musician famed for unleashing the hit song “Jonasi” (Wapenga Nayo Bonus).

Looking frail and evidently depressed, one can easily tell that all is not well with the former musician.

Now a vendor, who sells compact disks (CDs), it is obvious that the former celebrity has lost all the confidence and is struggling financially.

“For me, there is nothing to celebrate. Christmas means nothing. In fact, it is a day that brings painful memories,” Mukwamba said as tears rolled down his cheeks.

In recent years, the going has been tough for Mukwamba.

“I was at one time a vagrant who survived by rummaging through rubbish bins. Life has been very unfair to me,” Mukwamba mourned.

He chronicled how his seemingly promising music career took a nosedive, resulting in him becoming a vagrant.

According to Mukwamba, his downfall started in 1989, when he separated with his wife after she had allegedly ditched him for his drummer.

Deeply hurt, Mukwamba abandoned his Chitungwiza home and trekked to Rusape, where he initially earned a living by selling sculptural pieces.

He claimed his former wife, who passed away in 2004, denied him access to their home and children.

A bitter Mukwamba alleges she cast a bad spell on him.

For more than a decade, Mukwamba’s children — who are all based in South Africa — have completely ignored him.

“My children, who are my own blood and flesh, ignore my calls. They were brainwashed and made to believe I am bad father who killed their mother and using juju on them.”

Mukwamba, who refers to himself as “a dead man walking”, does not believe his life will ever return to normal.

“I am as good as dead. Promoters and well-wishers sometimes visit me and promise to revive my career.

“In the end, nothing comes out. I will certainly die a pauper,” Mukwamba, who has seemingly resigned to fate, said.

He, however, confessed he still loved his late former wife, whom he alleges cheated on him.

“I loved her until the day she died. I had forgiven her and asked her to come back to me but she refused.”

“I consulted several traditional healers to have the curse that she cast on me reversed but nothing has changed,” a distraught Mukwamba said.

He rose to national stardom during his short stint with the Four Brothers band between 1983 and 1984, when he released the hit song “Jonasi”.

The track describes how a man foolishly squanders his hard-earned bonus.

His other compositions — which include “Tonosangana Ikoko”, “Ramba Murume”, “Usambonyara Kusekwa”, “Zuva Rekufa Kwangu”, “Nhamo Yekufambira Chikwereti”, “Amai Nyembezi” and “Vambozha Vauya” were also well-received.