THE newly-formed Zimbabwe Hupenyu Hunokosha/ Impilo-iQakathekile Artistes/ Sportsmen Road Awareness Union is planning to rope in President Emmerson Mnangagwa as its patron ahead of its all-artistes and sportsmen road show set for April in Bulawayo.
BY SILAS NKALA
The organisation, founded by Mathias Kush, aims to campaign for road users safety amid concerns of alarming road traffic accidents which have rocked the nation in recent years.
In an interview with NewsDay Life &Style, Kush said they would soon engage Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation minister Kirsty Coventry to engage Mnangagwa on their behalf so that he attends the event and also be their patron.
“We are expecting President Mnangagwa to attend and launch the function. We are engaging him through Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation minister to be our patron. The President is the only one who always declares accidents as national disasters, so we want him to come and declare life as national priority,” he said.
Kush said he was encouraged to undertake such an initiative, having survived a serious accident in 2014 during his tour of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he had gone to perform in Lubumbashi.
“The increase in the number of accidents happening in the country has influenced the formation of our organisation. We are collaborating with various musicians and sportsmen for this four-day event, which will start towards the Easter Holiday on April 14 to 17 at Barbourfields Stadium. We are still registering those who will participate at the show,” he said.
“The free music shows will be held from April 14 to 17, and on April 18 and 19 there will be a soccer match. We expect Highlanders Football Club and the Mighty Warriors to clash, because we want to present something funny and unusual to the fans.”
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Kush said he had since released a single-track titled You Can Save The World off his 12-track album they are using in the anti-road carnage campaign in preparation for the show.
He said the single track was recorded in collaboration with artistes from Zambia, and was produced by United States-based Jacob Miller when he visited Bulawayo.
“We will have fun and games, as our aim is to bring an awareness of road carnage. The event will be a fundraising one, artistes will be cooking and serving food to the people,” he said.
“We will not end with this show, but we want artistes to be presenters on television and radios in terms of awareness campaigns against road carnage. They must be ambassadors at schools, in public foras and along the highways.”
Kush said during the show and registration times, artistes would have an opportunity to sell their music discs, an effort meant to outsmart piracy, which he said was robbing them of their hard work.
Recently, Kush’s group hosted a show at Joshua Nkomo statue in Bulawayo in remembrance of artistes and sportsmen who died in road accidents. Some of the popular sports personalities who passed on in accidents are former Warriors player Adam Ndlovu; musician Sam Mtukudzi; Blessing Makunike and Gary Mashoko, both former Caps United players; nine Dynamos supporters, Jackie Madondo, a musician and many others.
