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Dying so that he may live
Zimbabwe in Pictures
March 19, 2010

http://www.zimbabweinpictures.com/node/275

It is not everyday that a young man of 21 steals the shine from a visiting Head of State, whose presence in the country is occasioned by an urgent need to resolve a deepening political crisis. Yet this is what the late youngster and talented artiste, Sam Mtukudzi, son to legendary music maestro, Oliver Mtukudzi has managed to do in Zimbabwe since Monday.

If it is any consolation, "the moon steals its shine from the sun, and no one ever gets the two confused", as someone once said. So go ahead Comrade Jacob Zuma and try all you can to bring an end to the feud between governing parties in what is fast-becoming a tragic tale of the government of national (dis)unity.

To really understand where the rain of mis-governance, abject poverty, unashamed corruption, gross malfeasance and other ills began to beat Zimbabwe, you have to go back some thirteen years ago. The country was just seventeen then, a bit of ‘mischief' here and there but over all, on course to a vibrant and promising adult life. But some people had other ideas and we have all come to realize what those ideas were.

Maybe, and just maybe, things would have turned out quite differently had we listened to visionaries like Dambudzo Marechera who screamed as if he was mad in Oracle of the Povo, a poem

Zimbabwe is approaching its 30th birthday while having to endure a fractured and tortured youth phase replete with a catalogue of unmitigated disasters for our own young people. "The brutal experiences of our youth have been traumatic enough, joblessness, poverty, lack of access to higher education, illegal migration, xenophobia, hunger and humiliation . . . " we wrote in one of our January 2010 editorials, Anthem for doomed youth?

Just as they have choked the progress of a youthful country, they have also done the same to its young ones, blocking avenues of growth, stampeding the development of talent and its consequent expression. But young, gifted and creative people like Sam Mtukudzi are the anti-thesis to this brutalization and near de-humanization at the hands of people who are supposed to be at the forefront of championing their cause, creating an environment for their talent and skill to thrive.

These young people have not denounced the motherland but rather promoted it, remaining faithful and hopeful for the best, sometimes with cautious optimism and more often, with reckless abandon. In March last year, as we responded to refreshing and creative voices of Zimbabwe's youthful talents like Cde Fatso & Chabvondoka, Outspoken, Godobori, Poetic Angel, Ronald Jongwe, among others, we wrote; "Beneath the broken pieces of our dream there is a wind that is gathering speed and it will be a hurricane by the time it hits the global stage . . . ".

Unfortunately, we were late with our forecast. Hurricane Mtukudzi, Hurricane Chabvondoka, Hurrican Godobori and other artistically devastating hurricanes had already caused chaos and announced their arrival on the global stage with voices loud but well co-coordinated, sounds unfamiliar but nonetheless pleasant to the ear, an art invigorating to the mind.

Hence, in the painful death of Sam Mtukudzi last Monday, we mourn the interruption in continuity, first in his own OutspokenCde FatsoGodoboriright as an artiste and secondly as heir apparent to the legacy of his much accomplished father. We cry over the loss of someone who touched many of us in different ways, never complaining and never showing signs of being inconvenienced or irritated when called to serve others. We ask questions no one except the Creator can answer. We wish for the hands of time to be turned back so that we can do things differently and avoid tragedy. We . . . reach our wit's end.

Helpless but not without hope

To all young and creative people in Zimbabwe and indeed the rest of Africa, Sam's death should not be counted as a loss, rather as an event that should spur revolutionary will and zeal to be the change and transformation we seek in society, not with guns and petrol bombs but with words, with voices, with hands . . . with our creative talents and skills for it is the works we produce and the legacies we set in motion that enable us to write our names in water.

Sam has died so that he may live; so that he may remain young forever. Just like, Jesus (33), Dambudzo Marechera (35), Steve Biko (30), Aaliyah (22), Tupac Amaru Shakur (25), Tammi Terrell (24), Jimi Hendrix (27), Bob Marley (36), Che Guevara (39), just to mention a few in the league he has joined.

On Wednesday, March 17 2010, Mr Samson Mtukudzi was laid to rest next to his long-time friend, Mr Owen Chimhare at Warren Hills Cemetery in Harare. The pair was driving from Harare en route to their home in Norton when the vehicle they were travelling in veered off the road and slammed into a bridge in the early hours of Monday, 15 March 2010. They both died on the spot. It is suspected that the driver, Owen, lost control of the vehicle resulting in the tragic accident.

Samson, the only son born to Oliver and Daisy Mtukudzi, was due to celebrate his 22nd birthday on April 1. The launch of his second album Cheziya had been designed to coincide with his birthday celebrations. At the time of his death, he had also just been appointed to the board of Pakare Paye Arts Centre, an academy set up by his father to brew and nurture musical talent at their home in Norton.

Tributes and messages of condolence continue to pour in from all over the world. Zimbabwe in Pictures salutes both Sam and Owen and prays for the comfort of the Mtukudzi and Chimhare families during this time.

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