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Godwin Muzari Showbiz Mirror
At his age, gospel music guru Baba Mechanic Manyeruke is obviously no stranger to empty promises. The 71-year-old musician has probably been promised heaven on earth by people that do not even believe that there is a heaven somewhere.
He is, obviously, used to accepting the reality of empty promises. Many people make promises that they never fulfil for various reasons hinged on reaping selfish gains.
But I believe Shepherd Sirewu who promised to honour Baba Manyeruke with a Jaguar XF for the musician’s contribution to the music industry over the last 40 years is not one of the people that would take advantage of the gospel music veteran’s humility to promise him a place in heaven.
I believe when Sirewu said Baba Manyeruke would get the honourary vehicle on March 15, he meant his word. In November last year, Sirewu made the world believe he had bought the car for Baba Manyeruke. He made the musician test-drive a Jaguar XF that was purportedly bought for him and it later turned out he had been duped. Sirewu said the car was not available then and would be handed to the musician on March 15.
The inescapable attribute of timed promises is that the clock will always tick towards the diarised time.
Although Sirewu was evasive about the issue when The Herald Entertainment engaged him last weekend, we still have hope that he is organising the event behind the scenes and next week on Saturday the car hand-over ceremony comes to pass.
It would be a memorable day in the history of gospel music when one of the godfathers of the genre gets befitting recognition. We cannot prematurely judge Sirewu. He might be forgiven for failing to fulfil the promise last year since he gave another date and assurance that he would stand by his word.
In nine days Sirewu will show the world his true colours. He appears to be a professional man. We are waiting for the time and Baba Manyeruke should also be eagerly waiting for the day.
Baba Manyeruke knows that donations are easy to fulfil when one makes a promise because giving is a voluntary gesture. When one does such a gesture, the push is usually from the heart.
The gospel musician should have better ideas about giving because of his Christian background. He showed us the ideas when he went to Sanyathi recently and donated some clothes. He sourced the clothes from the United States and his heart pushed him to assist disadvantaged villagers.
He delivered the gifts without making loud promises to the villagers. The villagers are now happy because of the man’s hand. I hope Sirewu took some notes when Manyeruke delivered the gifts.
There have always been debates about how people should behave when they are giving. Should one make noise about how big their gift is? Should there be a line that separates small givers from big givers?
Such debates are common in churches. Some people believe announcing gifts inspires others to give more while some are of the opinion that the process should just be confined to the giver and the receiver. There is a general belief that the love and cheer in giving surpass the weight of the gift.
“God loves a cheerful giver. Cheerful giving is greater than receiving,” the chorus has echoed in various environs for centuries.
Opinions differ but giving is ever good. Givers should always be applauded for their efforts.
This is why we anxiously await Sirewu’s noble promise. Sirewu is one of the few people in the land that see value in honouring musicians for immense contributions. Some organisers of arts events do not even notice the value of recognising great contributions that artistes make in their various genres. Sirewu should have got more inspiration and zeal when Jah Prayzah recently received a Mercedes Benz from businessman Esau Mupfumi as a reward for the musician’s outstanding achievement at National Arts Merit Awards.
Unfortunately, some insincere promoters and business people have set a bad precedence. Alick Macheso and Tryson Chimbetu were promised cars by different people and never got them.
I hope Sirewu does not belong to this group. I know he does not want to read a statement like “Insincere promoter Shepherd Sirewu . . . ” in future articles about him.
The world is waiting and any man worth his salt should know that going in history as someone who took an old man like Baba Manyeruke for a ride is unforgivable. We wait for the day.
Online Reporter