Selmor Mtukudzi, daughter of the late legendary musician Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi, ignited controversy over the weekend when she walked off stage after performing just one song during the inaugural Oliver Mtukudzi International Festival of the Arts (OMIFA).
What was intended as a celebration of her father’s legacy at Pakare Paye in Norton quickly turned into a family dispute, with reports suggesting that Selmor felt snubbed at the event.
Initially excluded from the lineup, Selmor was added to the list of performers following public outcry, as the festival aimed to honor the late music icon.
However, her emotional performance on Saturday night did not go as planned; she broke down and left the stage after just one song. She said:
I have wanted to be on this stage for so many years but was always denied the chance.
If it weren’t for you, my supporters, I wouldn’t be here. How long will you keep fighting for me? I wonder if the dead can hear.
I want to thank my father, who worked hard to build this wonderful place, but what he wanted is not what’s happening now… How long will I be treated like an outsider at my own father’s events?
Despite attempts by her sister Sandra, husband Tendai Manatsa, and Tuku’s legendary dancer Eric “Piki” Kasamba to comfort and encourage her to continue, Selmor was unable to resume her performance.
Social commentator Tawona Shadaya criticised Selmor for her “drama,” saying she should grow up. He wrote on X:
Selmor Manatsa (no longer Mtukudzi) is a perfect example of what happens when a child inherits a parent’s bitterness
This is a married woman in her 40s who is still making drama over her father’s legacy & inheritance. It’s clear to anyone with common sense, she’s simply bitter her father Oliver Mtukudzi left her mother & married another woman. Left everything to that woman
Even when Oliver was alive, she was always dramatic & very disrespectful to the extent that when he passed away they were not on talking terms
She has been in the music industry for over 2 decades & the only thing she’s known about is her drama with her step mother. Many young female artists have come & forged their own names, but here she is clinging to her father’s glory
Does she even know why his father dumped his mother for Daisy?
Lesson: Children should not pick sides in their parents’ affairs
In response to Shadaya, UK-based Zimbabwean lawyer Brighton Mutebuka suggested that Oliver Mtukudzi may bear some responsibility for the discord within his family, implying that he likely failed to foster unity among them. He wrote:
1. There are levels to the “blended” family concept. I am fortunate enough to encounter this a lot in my line of work.
2. The biggest challenge often isn’t about who the other parent “picks.”
3. It’s often about maintaining a healthy & intimate relationship that safeguards a child’s mental, emotional & physical well-being adequately after moving on.
4. Parents who move into new relationships & create new families tend to struggle to meet their previous obligations.
5. In the end, the previous relationships tend to break down & evolve into mudslinging, estrangement, deprivation & toxicity.
6. In many cases, the quality of the relationship between a parent & child that’s retained following a divorce is dependent upon the social skills, insight, character & integrity of the successor spouse in the new relationship.
7. How a new relationship or family starts & how the previous one ends also materially & significantly impacts the family dynamics moving forward.
8. Maybe a lot of people simply don’t introspect enough on all of the above before “moving on.” Finally, we can only generalise & speculate when we don’t have all the facts in a given situation!
Another user, LynneM, expressed sympathy for Selmor, suggesting that she is grappling with the trauma of a broken home, stemming from her father’s decision to marry another wife and the feelings of abandonment that followed. She wrote:
Selmor represents a lot of children/adults who are from broken homes, where fathers starts looking after children of women they are with and neglecting their responsibilities they committed to unprovoked, the trauma of being a VICTIM of a broken home is ageless, it transcends the generations… if care is not taken, this spills over and becomes a chain reaction, it is WRONG, to neglect children because of differences with spouse, the brokenness that comes with this process, breaks more and more homes!
Selmor Mtukudzi is justified to a larger extent, though Daisy 🌼 might feel that she worked hard for what she jointly owned with her husband, she should remember that she married a married man & she should carry her cross! There are a lot of Selmors out there kungoti they are not famous #TheStruggleIsReal
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