Rutendo Kanogoiwa Showbiz Reporter
SOUTH Africa-based Zimbabwean afro pop musician Berita Khumalo won Songwriter of The Year at the Wawela Music Awards held in Johannesburg recently.

Berita, as Khumalo is known to her fans, won the award for her first album, Conquering Spirit which features hit singles such as Thandolwethu.

The Wawela Music Awards, according to their website, are held to recognise and award Southern African Music Rights Organisation (Samro) members — composers, authors, lyricists and publishers — who have lit up international and local stages, screens and airwaves with their dazzling talent.

The awards are a gesture from Samro to thank creative trailblazers and celebrate South African music creators’ accomplishments on the international and local stage over a particular defined period.

Berita said she was thankful she won the award as this would spur her on to write more music for her fans.

“I’m so grateful. I know from the bottom of my heart it’s well deserved because of the work I put into my music. Now that I have got a stamp of approval as a songwriter, I will be writing more and exploring the different avenues of song writing” she said.

Some of the noteworthy winners in previous years in the same category have included great composing talents such as Grammy award winners Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Mbongeni Ngema.

Berita last Friday debuted a new music video for her single, Sukundixhesha on Mzansi Magic music channel.

The music video is currently on high rotation since its first play. It will start playing on other channels this week.

The Bulawayo-born songbird has released two albums, Conquering Spirit (2012) and Songs of Empowerment (2014) with the former bagging the Best Afro Pop album at the 2013 Metro FM awards.

Khumalo, 23, who is known for her tunes — Thandolwethu, from her debut album Conquering Spirit and Pengaudzoke and Sukundixhesha from her latest offering, Songs of Empowerment has become a darling in South Africa for her exquisite music, often being likened to multi award winning songstress Zahara.

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