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Godwin Muzari Showbiz Mirror
Developments around the Mechanic Manyeruke tribute issue are sad. How could the organisers of the tribute events humiliate the old and humble musician in such a way? From nowhere, Shepherd Sirewu made noise about his plan to give Manyeruke a Jaguar XF in honour of his contribution to gospel music over the last 40 years.
Some of us who know Sirewu’s background questioned the motive, but gave the businessman the benefit of doubt with hope that he had someone backing him.
Given Sirewu’s humble businesses, we wondered how he would be prepared to make such an expensive honour to a musician he had rarely worked with. Sirewu is not a well-known music promoter save for a few gigs that he did a couple of years ago.
So, when he announced he would give Manyeruke the car, he attracted much attention. And I believe attention was what Sirewu needed most when he was planning the “Manyeruke Tribute Concert” that took place last month.
He was hoping to use the Jaguar claim to attract fans, well-wishers and sympathisers to his show and make quite a killing from ticket sales. He went on to engage a guy from a local car sales company to bring a Jaguar XF for display at the show and have Manyeruke test-drive the car.
Our old sincere Manyeruke, with a thankful heart and hope that God had blessed him in a big way, brought his wife Hellenah to the concert and she took the front passenger’s seat as her husband tested the car on road.
A date was set for the handover of the car and we all marvelled at this charity gesture. Indeed Manyeruke deserves honour. When he narrates how he fought against odds to record a first gospel single it becomes apparent he deserves a big present.
When Manyeruke tells us how he worked to invest in his career when the industry did not have much in return for his efforts, anyone would feel obliged to recognise his efforts in a special way.
But what Sirewu did is unacceptable. Now he gives several reasons for failing to hand over the car as scheduled and says he does not have money to host the dinner when the car has not been bought yet.
The fact that Sirewu is trying to organise another gospel concert ahead of the rescheduled hand-over ceremony says a lot about how he underestimated the pledge he made.
It is good for promoters to find catchy tricks to market their gigs but abusing artistes and making fake promises is not the way to go. We just hope the car will finally be purchased and handed over to Manyeruke to save him the humiliation he has endured so far.
Manyeruke is right to say he does not have to press the promoters for their proposed gift because he never asked for it. If Sirewu fails to bring the car for the musician, he would have failed the whole arts industry because issues of promoters abusing artistes for personal gains have become a cause for concern.
The same happened to Alick Macheso who was promised a Range Rover SUV by a local car dealer as recognition for his appointment as humanitarian ambassador for Red Cross but he never got the car.
The car dealer got a marketing opportunity in that case and failed to fulfil the promise.
In June, a Harare business man Enock Kamungiriya pledged to buy a Mercedes Benz E240 for Tryson Chimbetu after the musician was appointed Red Cross Youth Advocate. Chimbetu did not get the car.
Last month a man called Wilson Pirima promised to buy Munya Mataruse’s latest album Pashangara for US$1 000 and vanished just after the album launch without meeting his pledge. Munya consequently lost money from other serious bidders that wanted to buy the CD for less than US$1 000 during the launch.
This habit compromises artistes and promoters and well-wishers should be serious about their promises and stop abusing artistes to gain mileage.
Online Reporter