Artists Pay Tribute To Late Mparutsa

Giving a speech at his burial at the elite Glen Forest cemetery in Harare, Mtukudzi said:

“We are not respected as artists when we die. We are called destitute but Walter has shown that we are not and can live off art.”

Mtukudzi decribed Mparutsa  “ a God fearing person and a great joker”. He later sang a song in memory of the late actor.

Mparutsa (72) who died of cancer last Thursday was a renowned playwright, actor and theatre guru.

Other artists present at the burial were: Bob Nyabinde, Aaron Chiundura Moyo and Dylan Wilson Max better known as Kenge in the television soap Studio 263.

Chiuundura Moyo said Mparutsa’s death left a void difficult to feel.

“He and Dominic Kanavetti helped me write my books and it will be difficult to feel the void that they left. He (Mparutsa) loved his job. The arts industry has really lost because this man was instrumental in the growth of Zimbabwean art,” said Chiuundura Moyo.

Wilson Max said Mpratusa was influential in the arts industry.