The Sunday News
Trevor Moeketsi Ncube
A ladder in life is a prerequisite. It can be real or metaphorical. Many who have used ladders will testify that when they are up the building or the tower, they forget its importance and profess their own prowess to have taken them up.
I had the privilege to meet a strong ladder that many strong men and women today can testify to have used at the ZBC, BES College, School of Creative Arts where he said I should consider lecturing at, among other places.
To say the ladder was a strong one is just an understatement because despite the weight of muscular men and well-built women, no crack or tiring was detected. I will say it would have been a tragedy not to have met Sam Mkhithika, a man who struck me as one of the very few upright men fully committed to all he partook in.
In his engagement with subordinates, compatriots, church members, his family and friends, he showed utmost respect and valued everyone, regardless of position. The teams he led in whatever sphere became well-oiled machines as everyone was allowed to explore.
As a young man, my traditional approach of not talking or joking with ‘top people’ was to be dropped because he easily removed those managerial robes to interact with anyone. The much-loved boss, soft but astute as much as he was shrewd would have made a good soccer coach and won trophies.
He won trophies through the people he calmly and quietly molded into responsible adults and celebrities. My personal interactions with him grew after I warmed up to his fatherliness and would affectionately call me ‘my son’, to which I embraced having a father in a wolves infested industry.
If I was to get lost, to him it would equate to his own Ngqa, Bheki or Vusa going astray. The windy month of July, in blowing for the last broke the hearts of many as the doyen breathed his last on a black Friday, the 30th at the United Bulawayo Hospitals due to Covid 19 complications.
In wishing it was not true, a message to Sam’s longtime colleague umama Nonceba Mnkandla, who took him for a brother was replied with an emoji of tears and a broken heart. It was shattering. Our ‘Sam lo’ gone without saying goodbye, who then shall hold our hands and show us the way.
He would always say ‘dream and do’ my son and valued practicality than mere talk. It is in that vein he once took me to his home for satellite dish alignment which I did and he was happy and said practical skills will build the country.
I left after a chat, and having been told this is your mother, this is your home. The hospitality at that home was magnetic. This is a man who did not let the weight of his responsibilities affect his abilities as an ever-present father and husband.
He valued family to the core and would talk glowingly about his grandfather and the family lineage. The other day while testing his equipment I was surprised when he pulled out a guitar. I asked ‘ikatali ke baba’ to which he smilingly said ‘it’s mine son, connect it’. In no time a melodious sound was coming out and I was in awe of the various talents this great man had.
At his church, he was in charge of media and brought amazing ideas and had wide vision that touched afar and wanted the church choir to be able to record at their own premises than pay for services and equipment hire.
In walking the talk, sound equipment was purchased and he personally linked me up to impart some knowledge on equipment use and maintenance to a selected team.
The same team successfully used the equipment at the large city hall at their choir competition the following week I obliged to his request to be present and be with ‘my team.’
The next step was acquiring video equipment, on which he called me three weeks before his unfortunate demise.
What shall always be etched in my heart about this humble giant, is when I jog my memory to a time I was in neighbouring South Africa.
I can count fingers on one hand those who checked on me and he topped that list as he regularly did, and then touched down in South Africa to visit his children, and he surprisingly included me in his schedule. In the company of an equally humble Vusumuzi, they hunted me down and widely smiled when they saw me.
In no time we drove down Hyde Park Road where I got a lecture on the man who wrote Nkosi Sikelela as we passed Braamfontein Crematorium where his remains are interred.
The destination was Randburg, home to many broadcasting and equipment sales companies where I had established contacts. Whilst there and having done introductions, our elder Sam took over and enjoyed company of an old man, a Mr Sack who owned the equipment selling company and with a wide smile, said I am with my sons, they have the energy I am passing the baton to them to which Sack replied by calling his son whom he introduced as his successor.
I understand he is now a CEO and the old man an advisor as the founder. Vusa is doing well on his own so are his other siblings. Their father was a visionary. When I thought we were done with our agenda and coffee uSam was not done, he told his new friend of a newly licensed radio station in Bulawayo and how he applauded government stance on opening the airwaves.
He said the station has not started broadcasting, should there be any challenge on equipment purchasing would they be able to supply equipment so that broadcasting starts then payment be done on a long-term basis whilst already working. The request was gladly accepted ‘anytime, Sam’…. That is selflessness and commitment to city and country.
An avid reader and researcher, Sam is credited for advocating strongly for all national languages to be on television and radio since Zimbabwe has 16 languages as espoused by our constitution and also speaking for musicians, their rights and royalties.
It was an honour and privilege to know such a great individual who laid a foundation for such programmes as ukubingelelana as well as the then Radio 1 now Classic 263 programming, a respected, respectable and respectful man with rare top attributes and principles. It was an honour to also be one of the speakers during his virtually held consolation service.
As he was laid to rest on Thursday, 5 August where he was born in Lower Gwelo, the country was left poorer after the departure of yet another stalwart Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu, who like Sam belonged to a special generation that is gradually passing from the Zimbabwean media, cultural and social landscape.
With them goes the love, the values, the teachings and principles of that generation. Having started off at Radio Mthwakazi in the 1970s, he joined Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation, now ZBC in 1979 and rose through the ranks to become a manager until 2015, when he left the ZBC.
Fare thee well Mkhithika, fare thee well Bhoqo, Isabhojana sikaBhoqo, lala kahle thebe kaNhlunu Kayipheli.Sithi dudu kumama uGrace, abantwana, abazukulu, izihlobo, abebandla labangane. Man like you don’t die but live beyond the grave, through your works.
Trevor Moeketsi Ncube is a broadcast engineer, media consultant, writer cultural, social and sports commentator and analyst.
