Lucky Dube's 'nightmarish' Zimbabwe tour ends in riots

Lucky Dube's 'nightmarish' Zimbabwe tour ends in riots

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By Showbiz Editor

SOUTH African reggae legend Lucky Dube's management have been talking about their "nightmarish" tour of Zimbabwe which ended in violent scenes in Bulawayo last weekend.

"I have never in my entire showbiz life seen anything like it," Dube's tour manager Lenah Mochoele told New Zimbabwe.com by telephone from South Africa.

Dube and his band left South Africa by bus on Thursday because they "thought it would be fun", Mochoele said. But once they arrived at the Zimbabwe border with South Africa, the fun evaporated.

"We arrived in Beitbridge on Thursday afternoon and then they wouldn't let us go through with our equipment. We had travelled with our keyboards and guitars, and then some corrupt officials told us to pay something like £6500 so they can let us go through," she said.

"The stand-off continued until about 1am the next day and we had to return the South African side where we booked a hotel in Musina.

"We woke-up the next day and went straight to the border, and then started the process all over again. The promoter was there and she tried to organise for us to clear the instruments. We only crossed the border on Friday at 5pm rushing to a 11pm show in Harare!"

Mochoele says they only arrived at the City Sports Centre in Harare at around 0130am on Saturday, and found a disillusioned crowd. Scores of other fans had left the venue.

"The promoter was so disorganised it wasn't funny," she said.

Dube interrupted his show to tell the crowd of their nightmarish trip.

"An officer at the border asked me why my passport had a stamp into London and no stamp for coming out of London," Dube told the crowd of about 400 people. ". . . And imagine being sent back to South Africa because your passport has 80 pages when the officer expects 100 and South African officials saying it's the right passport! That's what our life is all about and you will accept that we were born to suffer."

When they got to Bulawayo on Saturday, Mochoele said there had been no pre-show publicity and they had to parade through the streets of Bulawayo from the town centre to the townships.

"There was no sound and our engineers had to start the whole process, and then there was this instrument and that instrument that were unavailable. At 11pm, the show had not started. Many people just stood outside and refused to get in the hall. There were no curtain raisers and around midnight we were told to start the show. So we performed two hours flat and then all hell broke loose," said Mochoele.

Hundreds of people rioted, hurling beer cans and chairs on the stage prompting the intervention of riot police.
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