Sungura musician Mark Ngwazi said he cancelled his show that was set to take place at PaGomba Cafe in Beitbridge at the weekend because he had not reached an agreement with the promoter over payment.
Mark’s young brother, Tindo, was drafted in by the promoter to replace the Njanja Express band leader but was forced to exit the stage by revellers after playing only three songs.
Officer commanding Beitbridge police Chief Superintendent Tichaona Nyongo on Tuesday said that there “there was crowd trouble at the PaGomba Cafe when an artiste who was supposed to play at the weekend did not show up”.
Speaking in an interview with H-Metro, Ngwazi blamed the promoter for the fiasco saying he should have told revellers the truth instead of taking their money. Said Ngwazi:
We cancelled the show the day before the actual date after we failed to agree on certain terms.
And, he decided to instead replace me with my brother.
I did not send my younger brother to replace me. How was I going to do that without being paid any money?
It wasn’t a bad idea to take my brother, but the promoter was supposed to tell the people that I wasn’t coming for the show.
The promoter was supposed to cancel the show since we had not agreed. He was supposed to tell people the truth that I wasn’t coming to perform rather than making people pay without knowing what had transpired.
Police said the revellers destroyed the windows of a minibus that was used as the cash point into the venue.
More: H-Metro