Mzekezeke set for UK tour

Mzekezeke set for UK tour

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By Showbiz Reporter

FORGET Mdu and Trompies. Forget the Soul Brothers and Freddie Gwala. UK music lovers, brace yourself - Mzekezeke is coming.

New Zimbabwe.com has been told that the star who is outselling all kwaito stars before him will tour the UK on the last weekend of July.

Sources say Zimbabwe's sungura music king Alick Macheso will join Mzekezeke on the tour.

Last week, the controversial Mzekezeke who is a DJ on a South African radio station was pursuaded out of carrying out a rare public spectacle at which he threatened to break the two Sama awards he recently won.

His threatened action was averted when Sama chairman Duma ka Ndlovu publicly apologised to Mzekezeke for remarks he (Ndlovu) made on radio during the week.

Attorneys of leading record companies also entered the fray to stop a furious Mzekezeke from carrying out his threat to break the awards.

Mzekezeke's fury stemmed from Ndlovu's remarks on Metro FM. The outgoing South African Music Awards (Sama) chairperson said he did not think Mzekezeke deserved to win the Song of The Year and Artist of the Year awards. The two awards are voted for by the public.

Mzekezeke has won these two awards for two years in succession since he rose to fame with the album S'guxa Ngamadolo and recently Akekhu Gogo.
City Press has learnt that Mzekezeke, who got the news while on an exchange programme in Germany, threatened to break the awards during a show at the Royal Showgrounds in Pietermaritzburg.

He also planned to take the remains of the awards to the offices of the Recording Industry of South Africa (Risa) tomorrow.

Speaking to City Press, Ndlovu apologised to Mzekezeke and said he had received a call from a credible source informing him that the Sama results were "rigged".

A day after the interview with Metro, Ndlovu had another meeting with the Sama auditing firm KPMG and the sponsors, and they all confirmed that Mzekezeke had won fairly.

"I was emotional when I did the interview. I said if there was manipulation, then the artist did not deserve to win. The award's credibility is more important than anyone else," said Ndlovu.

Thembinkosi Nciza, Mzekezeke's manager, said they would return the two awards, as well as the previous ones he won, to Risa tomorrow.

"Our future is not determined by awards. We're in the business of selling records. We're pulling out of the Samas," he said.

The circus rolls into London next!
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shapiro@newzimbabwe.com