Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
AT this time last year, Insimbi ZeZhwane was at crossroads. After an accident claimed the lives of co-founder Elvis “MaEli” Mathe and drummer Thembinkosi “Maviri” Mpofu, it seemed that the group’s rapid ascent in the world of rhumba had been dealt a cruel and fatal blow.
Where would they go without MaEli, the voice of the band, and Maviri, regarded by some as Insimbi’s heartbeat on and off stage?
On the 200km peg along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road, it seemed as if this new vibrant voice out of Tsholotsho might have been muted forever. A burst tyre seemed to have altered the course of history.
Dreams of superstardom were seemingly crushed and mangled, just like the Toyota Hilux that came to a fatal stop upon a tree near Fatima High School.
In the year since, the remaining members of Insimbi ZeZhwane have had to prove that they are indeed men of steel, picking up the pieces and trying to forge ahead with life despite their heavy hearts. How does one proceed after they have lost their voice and they can no longer feel their heartbeat?
“Our path was not easy after the accident,” band manager, Bahlanu “SaGqumo” Sibanda revealed to Sunday Life in an interview.
Insimbi ZeZhwane on stage
“Losing our front man and someone like Maviri, who made things happen in the band, was a very tough blow to take. I say this because a band, no matter how good it is, does not gel well when it doesn’t have a good drummer.
So we faced a lot of challenges when we lost those two. I am not saying other members are not important because they are but those were crucial parts of Insimbi ZeZhwane.”
While the first days after the passing of the pair were hard, Sibanda said he believed that the Almighty intervened on their behalf by bringing to them an unheralded Ergan Nzima, who stepped into the shoes left vacant by MaEli.
“God is good because as a prayerful person, I recognise that he did something extraordinary when he gave us a boy who took over as the lead and took up the task in a remarkable manner.
We also got a drummer who we had been working with in the past who came on board and now, we have got a drummer called David who is doing miracles on stage.
When you watch him work, you ask yourself what God was trying to do because this young man does the same things that Maviri used to do. The only difference is off-stage because Maviri was someone who would crack jokes even when spirits were very low.
On stage, David is amazing. We are still mourning our colleagues who passed away but David and Ergan have remarkably filled those shoes and we are proud of what they have done,” he said.
Sibanda said initially, they did not want to put pressure on the young musicians to perform to the standards of their departed colleagues, as they knew that they were also nursing trauma from the death of their heroes.
“We didn’t want to hurry them and put them under pressure because we knew that they were traumatised by what had happened. They had never thought they’d find themselves walking in those shoes but in the end, circumstances forced them to lift their hands and respect their brother by moving forward with what he had built,” he said.
Older members of the group also played a key role in the aftermath of the death of MaEli and Maviri, holding the hands of their new groupmates while they nursed their heartbreak.
“We had challenges in the beginning because the boys were learning on the job. When you take over from someone else, there are always going to be some elements of difficulty. It was always going to be hard. Stepping in front of the mic is not an easy job and not just anyone can go out there and do it.
It wasn’t easy but we are there to guide them, comfort them, and nurture them. In the end, it was a job well done because some of us have been there a long time and while the boys might not have known some things required, we gave them guidance that allowed them to adapt very quickly,” he said.
In March, Insimbi turned a new leaf with the release of three tracks in South Africa. The songs, Inhlansi, Ama Agenda, and Iso Ngeso announced the return of a group that refused to die in the face of adversity. Sibanda said despite the loss of MaEli, the success of the tracks had proved that they still had the blueprint for the formula that had made them a household name in the first place.
“Our new songs were received with a lot of excitement. I remember we first released a 30-second snippet and people couldn’t wait for the full release the next day. I think when a well-known chef is off-sick, everyone is eager to see what food the new chef will cook.
When the food tastes the same, people are shocked and they start to wonder if the food cooks itself. However, the truth is that if the ingredients are still the same and the food is cooked well, it will still taste as good as it ever did. People loved our songs and it showed us that God answered our prayers,” he said.
Sibanda said the death of vital group members had acted as a galvanising agent on their behalf, as the community was determined to not let them fall by the wayside.
“The support we have received from people since the tragedy has been massive, even in comparison to before. I think some people didn’t care for the group and took notice of it after the accident.
I think they started paying attention to us after the accident and once they did, they realised that our work was of a high standard. Sometimes you may pass a particular place many times over and people don’t notice you.
“Then one day, you twist your ankle and fall and everyone starts asking who the person who fell is. I think something similar happened to us because people started taking notice of us after our tragedy,” he said.
