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Wicknell in bizarre Nkomo tribute

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FLAMBOYANT businessman, Wicknell Chivayo on Tuesday issued a bizarre tribute to the late Vice-President John Nkomo, where he appeared to plagiarise large swathes of Puff Daddy and Faith Evans’s I’ll be Missing You, a tribute to the late Notorious BIG.

FLAMBOYANT businessman, Wicknell Chivayo on Tuesday issued a bizarre tribute to the late Vice-President John Nkomo, where he appeared to plagiarise large swathes of Puff Daddy and Faith Evans’s I’ll be Missing You, a tribute to the late Notorious BIG.

BY ARTS REPORTER

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In his tribute, Chivayo, without attributing the words to Faith Evans and P Diddy, as Sean Combs is known, pays, what seems like a moving tribute to the late Vice-President, to whom he says he was related.

“I woke up yesterday and realised its four years since the day you left,” he wrote.

“I still hope I’m dreaming. I still can’t believe you ain’t here. It’s hard to just keep going.”

Lyrics to the Grammy-winning song sound quite familiar: “Every day I wake up/I hope I’m dreamin

“I can’t believe this sh*t/Can’t believe you ain’t here. Sometimes it’s just hard for a n*gga to wake up “It’s hard to just keep goin.”

Some of the words in Chivayo’s tribute, which are similar to the Billboard chart-topping songs are: “When its real, feelings are hard to conceal, can’t imagine all the pain I feel. It’s very hard with you not around, but I know you are in heaven smiling down, watching us while we pray for you.

He then ploughs through P Diddy’s lyrics for the 1997 tribute to the slain Christopher Wallace Jnr, popularly known as Notorious BIG.

The tribute was carried as part of a supplement in State media remembering Nkomo, who died four years ago. Plagiarism is defined as copying someone else’s work and presenting it as one’s own.

Last year, I’ll Be Missing You was rated as 99th best song of all time by Billboard.

Chivayo yesterday said there was nothing to write about, as the tribute message was not an official document or a speech presented at an event.

“You are missing it now. Make it a front page [story] that Chivayo in plagiarising, I don’t mind. I missed my former VP and had to flight that advert. The song you are referring to was also a dedication after someone’s death and it is different from what Melania Trump did,” he said.

Trump was accused of plagiarising outgoing United States First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech when she addressed the Republican National Convention last year.