Popstar-cum-military ambassador strikes a chord in celebratory Zimbabwe
Was Jah Prayzah’s Kutonga Kwaro ("How a leader rules) just a great song, or a prescient view into the political future of Emmerson Mnangagwa?
Harare — It could easily be mistaken for being the national anthem of Zimbabwe, as all over Harare, one song, Kutonga Kwaro, which means "How a leader rules" by popular local musician Jah Prayzah, dominated play in cars, restaurants and bars as Zimbabweans received the news that Robert Mugabe had stepped down as president. Even as incoming interim president Emmerson Mnangagwa gave his first public address on Wednesday after a two-week absence, the same song blasted through the speakers at Zanu-PF headquarters. On Thursday, Jah Prayzah’s manager Keen Mushapaidze said the musician was likely to give a performance at Mnangagwa’s inauguration on Friday. When tankers rolled into Harare last week as the military warmed up for a take-over, which eventually felled Mugabe, among the early explanations for the unexpected military roll-out was that Jah Prayzah was preparing to shoot a music video. This is not surprising as Mukudzei Mukombe, Jah Prayzah’s real name, is the army’s brand ambassad...
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