The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
WHEN Jonathan “Mntakagogo” Moyo took to the stage at the commissioning of the Bubi-Lupane Irrigation Scheme on 25 September in 2001, he did not know that his life was about to change.
For years, Mntakagogo, had taken praise poetry as a hobby, a useful tool that he could pull out when the occasion called for it. For example, in his family, he was known as the guy who would recite poems during funerals, sending the departed with a few words of praise for their deeds on earth while giving the living words of comfort as they mourned their loved one.
However, on this occasion, Mntakagogo was now being asked to perform for a far more esteemed audience. He was within earshot of the country’s Head of State and Government, President Mnangagwa, an honour many will not have the privilege of attaining in their lives.
It seemed those years he had spent writing and practising in front of the mirror had finally led him to this moment. He just had to impress and impress he did.
When all was said and done, Mntakagogo had won the President’s heart. However, it would be a few weeks before he could find out how truly impressive his performance had been.
“The President saw me performing, I think it was on the 25th of September in 2021,” he told Sunday Life on the sidelines of another performance recently.
“What happened was that, after that performance, I went back to college, because it was my final year, and while I was there that’s when I received a call from the President’s Office outlining the fact that the country’s leader wanted to see me. I went to see Umdala, managed to see him and he helped me with my education and that is some other things which changed a lot in my life.”
Mntakagogo describes meeting the President as an out-of-body experience.
As he shook hands with the country’s leader, he felt that he was watching another person exchange pleasantries with the country’s Head of State.
When he walked out of State House that day Mntakagogo, then a student at Hillside Teachers College, was given heifers and funds to help him finish his education. In addition, he walked out with the knowledge that he was a gifted poet whose tongue had the power to move even respected statesmen.
“It was something that gave me a lot of verve to continue doing this. It made me feel important. I say this because for a long time, I regarded poetry as a hobby. That is the way that I feel even now but there were people that kept telling me that I could do this professionally and make money from it. For me, I enjoyed and still enjoy doing it for the love of the craft. Sometimes people think I am now too expensive to hire but that is not the case because I am doing this mostly because I enjoy it. So, when the President called me, I was really chuffed and it gave me the strength to pursue this even with more vigour. Even at the graduation at the Lupane State University, he recognised me and that is another thing that inspired me to continue doing what I am doing,” he said.
Before that occasion, Mntakagogo confesses that he did not see himself as anything beyond an occasional performer. While he said he was bitten by the poetry bug at a tender age, Mntakagogo only began taking it seriously much later in his life.
“I was someone that was always interested in the arts even from a young age. I remember in primary school, I was in the drama club and I was also in a group that also did imbube. But things were different back then because perhaps teachers did not have a lot of interest in things like that so I didn’t get a lot of guidance and even in secondary school I really did not get a lot of encouragement but I kept on the same path. I always used to write poetry and I would exhibit it during funerals in the family whenever we were sending someone off.
“When I got to Hillside Teachers’ College that was when I began to do this on a more serious level because I remember I was asked to perform during Miss Hillside Teachers’ College which was rolled into one with the Culture Day. I remember after that there were people who saw me perform who invited me to come and do the same at their wedding because this was all happening in December. The rest, as they say, is history,” he said.
Like many young people in Zimbabwe, Mntakagogo was raised by his grandparents.
While he lived under their roof, their love for isiNdebele was bequeathed to him and in appreciation of this, he adopted a name that pays homage to his grandmother in particular when he was reborn as a poet.
“The name Mntakagogo comes from the fact that I was just lucky enough to be raised by my grandparents. My parents separated when I was in secondary school and from that time I was in high school and when that happened I was taken to stay with my grandparents. I was raised by my grandmother and she treated me very well and that is something that I never forgot. So, when the time came for me to choose a name, I just called myself Mntakagogo,” he said.
Now a qualified teacher who is also studying for his Sports Science Degree at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust), Mntakagogo admits that he sometimes struggles to find a balance between his life as a teacher on one hand and as a poet on the other.
“Balancing my profession and poetry has been my hardest challenge. In terms of isiNdebele, I think that I would say my tongue and mastery of the language were strengthened when I was in A-level. However, when I went to teachers college, I started studying sport because that is something that I was always talented in as well so I’m now teaching PE to students at Mabhikwa Secondary School in Lupane. The problem now is striking a balance between my formal work, because I am grooming quite a few kids, and my performances. I am also doing my Sports Science Degree at Nust so that further complicates things when I am booked to perform, particularly on weekends because that clashes with my lessons.
Preparing a perfect piece, because I am a perfectionist and I always want to present something clean, takes a lot of work. I never want to prepare shoddy work and that means that I need time to prepare my pieces. Sometimes I think if I did Ndebele and taught Ndebele, this would have helped me because I would know that what I teach complements my other trade. As it is, I have to switch from a PE teacher to a praise poet at the drop of a hat and it’s not easy,” he said.
Mntakagogo pinpoints Desire Moyoxide as the one poet who inspired him to take the craft seriously.
“The person who really inspired me is Desire Moyoxide. I was listening to one of his poems one day and I thought, this is something that I could do. I had always been writing poetry but that moment sparked a new desire in me to do this at a higher level,” he said.
