Counting the losses…Bulawayo promoters still licking December wounds

Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter 

JANUARY and February have been uncharacteristically quiet months on the late night entertainment scene in Bulawayo. 

In the past, this would be par for the course, as the first three months of the year were generally regarded as that one time during the year when promoters would not dare pencil in events in fear of racking in massive losses. 

The wild days of December, promoters felt, needed to be followed by mellow evenings and nights from January to March, as these were months that were not meant to be harsh on the pockets of party-weary revellers.

Over the past few years however, this trend has been bucked, with gigs featuring the explosive Scorpion Kings duo in particular proving that January and February in particular are not sacred months to Bulawayo’s party lovers. 

This year however, there seems to have been a noticeable shift, with almost all of Bulawayo’s major promoters avoiding big name artistes, particularly from South Africa, as if they are lepers. 

December was supposed to have been the month when they were meant to make a killing, with the lifting of international travel restrictions across the globe allowing thousands of Zimbabweans to flock back home to have a good time with their loved ones. 

Instead, for the city’s promoters, it was a bloodbath. A large majority of the shows that were highly touted flopped massively, with few living up to their billing. 

It was a scenario that left many scratching their heads, as it was assumed that the combination of the most festive month of the year together with the influx of expatriates was a foolproof formula for oversubscribed shows. 

Local promoter, Joe Tha OG says this did not happen due to a lack of strategic planning by the city’s self-appointed “pleasure managers”. With shows sometimes all scheduled on the same night, revellers were not only spoilt for choice, they ended up distributed around various gigs. Promoters are yet to recover from the losses they incurred during that exciting but chaotic period. 

“The feeling is that we were oversubscribed as Bulawayo. There were just too many events in December, which after all is just one month. It really killed that vibe, that big concert vibe, that big crowd, big momentum, international act kind of vibe. This was mainly because the gigs were either too close or bunched up in one day or one weekend. It didn’t allow people to be organised into one space considering that Bulawayo has a specific population that attends these shows,” he said.

While some wondered why this happened, some believe that there was a lack of co-ordination among the promoters’ ranks, something that could be remedied by an association that would bring all heads under one roof. 

“The way I see it, to avoid the same thing happening in the future, because if you are a promoter the objective is to make profit, they must come together and communicate their plans, particularly in terms of dates. The arts council should also be involved, especially in the giving of permits. Back in the day, I don’t know if this was a rule or a specific arrangement, the arts council would say they could only clear one act per specific weekend. So, whoever comes first is cleared, unlike now when you find there are three acts on a particular weekend and all these people don’t make money at the end of the day. 

“This means that while the arts council would be making money for clearances, they are not giving promoters a chance to make money so eventually promoters are just going to die a slow death. Unity among promoters, the co-operation of the arts council whereby they don’t just bunch up acts in one city, one weekend, or even day, could lead to better numbers. I remember there was two if not three nights where they were like three acts which meant that all these promoters had to share the crowds but the Bulawayo crowd is small, so it can’t be shared and remain profitable,” he said.

Fellow promoter, Mduduzi Mdlongwa of 3D Events Management, said that in supervision of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) might once again be needed in future. While he had a successful show when he brought DJ Zinhle to Bulawayo on 21 December, Mdlongwa also fell victim to the scramble for the festive big bucks, as he had to fend off competition from two other promoters on the same night. 

“In the past, the arts council never used to clear two shows in the same city on the same day. If you were to put your application for a certain date and someone else later tried to do the same, they would turn them down because they would tell them that the capacity does not allow. So, I don’t know what has changed to the extent that the arts council can clear three shows in the same night. 

“On the other hand, I believe that the onus is on promoters to respect and give each other chances. If one promoter has declared that they are doing a show on a specific day, it is better that they allow him to do so while they go for other dates. However, from what I saw, there was just too much competition and that is why at times it seemed as if they were all targeting the same market. On the other hand, Munch and Sip did its own thing and the event came out perfectly and up until now, there’s still no event that can rival Munch and Sip in the afternoon,” he said.

Mdlongwa also bemoaned the emergence of fly-by-night promoters who, seeing the numbers swelling on the country’s borders, felt that there was quick money to be made in December. 

“I think based on the month of December where everyone seemed to be overexcited by the fact that we were coming to the first December with the Covid-19 travelling restrictions fully lifted, and thus a lot of relatives coming to Zimbabwe, people thought that there would be a lot of money circulating. Everyone thought that they should do an event, just to try and cash in, which is where there was a problem. 

“You have to consider that there are people that always do shows in the city and had long-term plans in place but others came who were chancers, and felt that they could also do well. What that meant was that everything was oversubscribed and nothing went well. From what I saw, there wasn’t much money in December but we all assumed that they would be a lot of cash to go around,” he said.

Erstwhile event organiser Marshall Mpofu said that promoters in Bulawayo had a misplaced sense of competition, hence the losses incurred in December. 

“Why must promoters seem like they are fighting or they are pulling against each other? If you remember correctly, Mdu (3D) had his own gig in which he brought DJ Zinhle while on the other hand there were two other international artistes on the very same day. There were two other international acts in the city and in the end, one of the promoters ended up not making money but instead losing more as people didn’t turn up. Sometimes it’s all a matter of understanding each other and people putting aside their differences. Sometimes promoters are allowing petty grudges to come ahead of good business sense,” he said.

Mpofu also hailed organisers of the Munch and Sip for picking a concept that set them apart from the rest of a crowd that seemed to have a crab-in-a-barrel mentality, as they were always trying to pull each other down. 

“It’s a matter of siting down as men and saying, my gig is on such and such a date and if it clashes with a certain promoter’s show and if it does, you speak to the artistes that have been booked and find out who’s flexible to change dates. If one of them is free, then give each other space even if it’s just seven days. People in Bulawayo will attend because they are hungry for a good time. Communication and understanding of each other is important, instead of one putting one artiste in one part of the city and another elsewhere because one is guaranteed to lose money. I think this is what should have been done. Munch and Sip right now is head and shoulders above everyone else so far and no one even comes close,” he said.