Mutukudzi Wails For His Son

Oliver and his wife had to rush back home upon receiving news whilst in South Africa that their son, also a musician, had died in a car crash which occured in the early hours of Monday near their home.

“Ndatorerwa! Ndatorerwa! Kuvhaira kwese hapachisina,” he cried as he arrived at his home. “I was confident he was going to look after me. He was such an excellent kid and I don’t what will become of me. I am devastated,” said Mtukudzi as friends tried to calm him down.

He said he last spoke his son on Sunday night when he called him enquiring about his flight from South Africa.

“He called when he was already at the airport and he joked with me saying, “Mudhara asi marasika? Mazofunga kuita zvebhazi? Those were the last words with me,” said Mtukudzi as he struggled to hold back his tears.

Mtukudzi also said the death has also jeopardized his tour of the UK which was due next month.

He said burial arrangements will commence as soon as their daughter Samantha arrives from South Africa. Samantha is wife to Zimbabwe international footballer Tinashe Nengomasha.

Media and Information Publicity Minister Webster Shamu was one of the early mourners who visted the Mtukudzi home to console the musician and his family.

Fellow musicians Prince Tendai, Zexie Manatsa and his son Tendai, Freddie Zindi and the members of Mtukudzi’s Black Spirits were present at the house which was all clouded with a somber atmosphere.

Twenty-two-year old Sam died on the spot together with his friend Owen Chimhare when their TATA truck hit a bridge along the Harare-Bulawayo highway early on Monday Morning.

Police sources said Chimhare, a sound engineer for the Sam’s A1 band, was the one driving the vehicle.

They were both on their way to their homes in Norton from Harare.