The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
WHEN the Gwanda Gospel Festival returns for its fifth edition this week, it will represent another small step in business mogul Justice Maphosa’s journey.
It is a journey that began five years ago when he brought what has evolved into perhaps the country’s most spectacular gospel extravaganza to the rocky hills and mountains of the mining town.
It is a journey that might not have happened. Initially reports suggested that Maphosa wanted to take the gospel fest to his adopted country of South Africa, where lovers of the gospel would make an annual pilgrimage to the shores of Durban for the praise and worship of their maker.
Instead, Maphosa’s shoe ended up pointing north and now five years later, his footprint is firmly planted in the mineral rich dust of Gwanda.
When the annual Gwanda Gospel Festival kicks off this week, running from 4 to 6 October, it will be another step in Maphosa’s dream of making Gwanda the Mecca of gospel music in the region. This is part of a long term vision that he would like to see achieved in the next five years.
“We obviously want to worship God better. We want Gwanda to be the altar for people from all walks of life where they go to seek God in praise and worship for free. It has to be our Jerusalem,” he told Sunday Life in an exclusive interview.
In the past Maphosa has spared no expense in the making of an extravaganza that has redefined praise and worship in Gwanda. Any festival where gospel music lovers can watch Rebecca Malope, Oliver Mtukudzi (late) and Dr Tumi for free is bound to turn heads.
Great hospitality and a fireworks display that sometimes seems to threaten to tear apart the Gwanda night sky apart every year have also contributed in making the fest an outing not to miss, even for those that might not find gospel music appealing to their taste.
This year promises to be no different with Maphosa promising to go a step further by bringing an artiste that Gwanda has been clamouring for.
“We’ll have a surprise musician that the people of Gwanda have been asking us to bring as we mark the fifth year of the festival. Besides that, we want to worship God better with each year, so by the grace of God, Gwanda will be bigger this year,” he said.
While some might look and marvel at what Maphosa has achieved over the past five years, he says that for him, the initiative has never been about personal glory.
“It’s never been about achievement for us, the primary thing is to worship God and appreciate him for what he’s done. If it was about personal achievement, we’d be sponsoring a football team to win league titles so we can get credit. But it’s about worshipping God for who He is in our lives. All glory belongs to him,” he said.
Just over a decade ago, when Maphosa left Zimbabwe, things were not so rosy for the mogul. Before Big Time Strategic Group had taken flight, Maphosa was also like many of those resident in the mining town, a dreamer whose chances of escaping grinding poverty appeared to rest on wing and a prayer.
After he made it out to the bright lights of South Africa, he found himself shuttling from township to township and city to city. From the dangerous streets of Hillbrow, Johannesburg to the equally perilous alleys of Cape Town, his dream of making it big took shape.
“I was born in a very poor family and poverty will limit what you can do and what you can become. In most cases, life will pin you to the way you were born. But God has blessed me to be what I am today so this is my way of honouring him,” he said.
His rags to riches rise is what gave Maphosa the desire to bring the fest to Gwanda.
It (festival) was birthed out of my gratitude for what God had done for me, for the battles God had taken me through, for everything that I have asked God and I have seen it come through. So it remains a way to appreciate God for His kindness.
While he might have escaped his tough upbringing, Maphosa has never desired to forget those that have been left behind. Besides the top notch entertainment that it brings to the town over the three days, the Gwanda Gospel Festival has created an economy of its own, with many residents benefiting from the activity it brings.
“A number of people have turned their homes into guest houses to accommodate guests who come to the festival. It’s extra income for them.
The festival also creates short-term employment for people that are involved in the running of the festival.
Some locals set up stalls where they sell their wares and foodstuffs at the stadium while those in the CBD are also kept busy with visitors who drive around and visit Tshisanyama spots among others to have an experience of the town.
“A number of musical groups from Gwanda also get a chance to share the stage with renowned gospel artistes from outside. Last year, Hybrid Psalms went on to feature alongside Mkhululi Bhebhe (formerly with Joyous Celebration). The group was also able to buy musical instruments with their proceeds from the festival. So there’re quite a number of benefits for the people of Gwanda,” he said.
With the gospel extravaganza bringing blockbuster acts spread over the five years of its existence, Maphosa said he was not worried that some might look at it as an unsustainable model given that it did not demand a fee at the gate. “God is my sustenance,” said the man who seems to live and breathe the bible.
This, he said, was also true for the world of business where, like any other top businessmen, he is bound to come across cut-throat businesspeople trying to harm his interests.
“He is my rock, He is my sustenance, He is the giver of all ideas I translate into business. Deuteronomy 8:18 says ‘And thou hast remembered Jehovah thy God, for he it is who is giving to thee power to make wealth, in order to establish his covenant which He hath sworn to thy fathers as at this day.’ God guides me through everything I do,” he said.
For the first weekend of October, Maphosa will be far away from boardroom brawls and balance sheets, as for three days he edges a little closer to his Maker while in the town that had a big hand in shaping the businessman he has become later in life.
“It’s always a joy to worship your Maker. Every moment in His presence is unique and extraordinary. There’s no better place to be in than the Presence of the Living God, so just like everyone else, I look forward to each edition of the festival just to have an encounter with my God. So I’d say the most outstanding thing about it is the presence of God as we worship Him each year,” he said.
