×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Hakeem speaks out

News
EVICTED Zimbabwean BBA housemate Hakeem Mandaza says he accomplished his mission in the house because what he wanted from the beginning was to use the BBA show as a platform to market his career as an artiste.

EVICTED Zimbabwean Big Brother Africa (BBA) housemate Hakeem Mandaza says he accomplished his mission in the house because what he wanted from the beginning was to use the BBA show as a platform to market his career as an artiste. Melissa Mpofu

Hakeem is a model, singer and actor.

“I entered BBA just to boost myself as an artiste. Music has always been my first love and I am now looking forwar d to recording some songs, putting my music out there and use the exposure I gained from the show to market myself as an artiste,” he said during a telephone interview.

Hakeem showcased his musical skills by singing for his love, Cleo, from time to time in the house and also used it as a cure for boredom in the house.

Hakeem, who is expected back home at midday today, said he was evicted because a lot of housemates from the Sadc region had been nominated.

“I wasn’t evicted because I didn’t play the game well, but because a lot of housemates from southern Africa were also up for eviction so our votes were split. People vote for their own and unfortunately for me, I was also up against Pokello and received no vote,” Hakeem said.

Nevertheless, he was satisfied that he gave the game his best shot as it was not easy being locked up in a house with a lot of cameras around.

“There is a lot of tension and emotional flares in the house and I at times felt like giving up. It’s not easy to keep your cool while being monitored by cameras 24 hours a day,” Hakeem said.

He added that his relationship with Zambian lass, Cleo, in the house was real and that they would take things further after the show. “Cleo is an amazing woman. Our relationship was real because when I entered the house, it was never on my script to have a relationship, but the circumstances and timing was right, I guess,” he said.

Hakeem, a father of one, said he was in a relationship before entering BBA, but parted ways with his partner just before stepping into BBA.

“Before the show, I was in a relationship, but we parted ways a few days before the show because she only started caring about me when she discovered that I was going to represent Zimbabwe at the show.

Before that, she was unreal, fake and had no respect for me so I decided to drop her before getting into the house,” Hakeem said. He said he kept his distance from Pokello in the house because they were two different personalities.

“Pokello wanted to play dirty in the house, while I wanted to play it safe. Pokello is an opinionated person who used to gossip about fellow housemates. She used to call some of them using bad names in Shona so I avoided her from time to time as I wanted to represent my country in a clean manner,” Hakeem said.

Hakeem made it clear that people got him wrong when he said Pokello and him were from two different classes.

“It was a metaphor and what I meant was that Pokello was resident in the Rubies (uptown) house whilst I was resident in the Diamonds (downtown) house,” Hakeem said.

He also explained his relationship with Dillish, the Namibian housemate he never got along well with saying the two were so much alike.

“Dillish and I are very much alike. We were like two bulls in one kraal so it was difficult to operate as we both felt like we were stepping on each other’s toes,” he said.

Hakeem was evicted from BBA on Sunday evening and walked out empty- handed. In some editions of the show, housemates walked out with a few thousands for not swearing whilst in the game, but this year, housemates are walking out empty-handed.