Zimpapers Logo

Bruce Ndlovu
One year ago a mysterious light started piercing Bulawayo’s night skies. Out of nowhere, it seemed the City of Kings had an artificial light that was competing with the moon itself, high and mighty as it is, in the heavens.

Its appearance was greeted with an equal mixture of praise and suspicion. Some wondered, perhaps influenced by Hollywood movie stories about alien invasions, where it came from and whether it was a force of good or evil.

Others took it at face value, appreciating the brilliance of the light that shone from the city centre to some of Bulawayo’s most far flung western suburbs. From Cowdray Park to Burnside, they wondered about the purpose and significance of this night time intruder.

Those in the know however, would have told you that the light signified the birth of Private Lounge. Instead of a star leading a few wise men to the birth of a messiah, the light above signalled the arrival of a joint that promised to change Bulawayo’s night life which had become a little too mundane and boring.

Many had heard tales of how Private Lounge in Harare, its sister joint, had shaken up the night scene in Harare. They heard tales of how ladies on stage, not the DJs on the decks, were the centre of attention of a joint that offered the best adult entertainment in the country.

“Private Lounge in Bulawayo will run on the same lines as its sister club in Harare. It’s a strip club. But besides the strip tease, it has everything else that a top notch club in the United States or South Africa has. We’ll provide quality service and adult entertainment.

“This is strictly an adult playground where we don’t want kids or moralistic people that are easily offended by this kind of entertainment,” said Private Lounge’s manager Thelma Zuva when the club opened.

With such stories in mind, whether fact or fiction, many wondered whether the Bulawayo version of the joint would live up to the billing of its version in the capital.

A few weeks after it opened in June, the verdict was in. Private Lounge in Bulawayo was as good, if not better, than its storied version in the country’s capital city.

The dancers, baring the right amount of skin and equipped with some of the most seductive dances, were alluring. Complementing them were the joint’s wheel spinners, who always seemed to know the right joint to throw in order to turn even the most sedate or boring night on its head.

Within a few weeks, the club was the talk of the town  and revellers like moths, were flocking to the light. The streak did not last a few weeks but even months after the joint opened its doors to Bulawayo, many are still flocking to see the source of famed light and the raunchy delights that reside underneath it.

Now a year later, Private Lounge is at a point where it can celebrate its existence. It has been a year since that light scaled on top of Bulawayo’s skies and there is indeed much to celebrate.

Memories and friends have been made. Casual acquaintances, which sometimes last a single night, have been struck. Through it all, however, there is one thing that cannot be denied; Bulawayo’s night scene will never the same again.

It is with all this that the joint will seek to rewind the clock this Saturday and take it back to where it all began. Tonight, to celebrate its incredible journey over the past year, the original staff of waiters, hosts and DJs will once again come together to give the people a reminder of what Private Lounge has come to mean to the Bulawayo night scene over the past year.

Socialites, celebrities and policy makers have all made the descent down Cecil Hotel’s steps to the underground joint. However, while acknowledging the role that such prominent figures played in making Private Lounge the most hip and happening joint in an already exciting Bulawayo night scene, one can lose sight of the people that actually made it what it is.

The centre of every party every night at Private Lounge are the dancers that strut their stuff, enticing revellers to bring more people, and their wallets, for another night of fun the following night.

Bulawayo, like any cosmopolitan city, changes a lot through a year and the same is also true of the dancers that have entertained and enthralled revellers over the past year. Many have come and gone as the club, in its bid to stay relevant, has brought new and exciting dancers to entertain its patrons.

Popular culture has also changed, with the songs and outfits that were popular last year replaced by a new year’s fashion. Just for one more night, however, as a gesture of acknowledgment of a great year, the joint has brought back the dancers that opened the joint’s doors last year.

The music which provided the soundtrack to what the ladies exhibited on stage will also be brought back tonight.
It is with this in mind that the joint is asking for those that were there when Private Lounge first opened its doors to come back and grace the joint.

Nightlife anywhere in the world is dependent on revellers and The Lounge would not be what it is if it was not embraced with open and welcoming arms by Bulawayo residents.

For one more night, the popular joint will try to remind its revellers what made it a hit in Bulawayo’s competitive night scene.