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Showbiz Reporter
Comedian Ntando Van Moyo has said he wishes he had gone against the late artiste, Clive Chigubu’s wishes of keeping his illness a secret and reached out for help.

Ntando, who was among those who were instrumental in promoting the late comedian and MC’s career through the Umahlekisa Comedy Club, was full of regret as he spoke to the Chronicle team yesterday.

Chigubu died yesterday morning following a battle with Diffuse Large B Cell lymphoma, a type of cancer that left him bedridden and unable to talk.

He was diagnosed in March and the public only got to know about this on Sunday through an article that was run by our sister newspaper, Sunday News.

Moments after the news of Chigubu’s death broke, his colleagues made their way to his family home in Barbourfields suburb to console his family.

Ntando said he wished they had not listened to the late Chigubu and looked for help on his behalf.

“We were working on his one-man show that was supposed to be held in March, but he later cancelled it because of his illness. He told us that he was unwell but insisted that we should not spread the message and we had to respect that,” he said.

“But now in retrospect, I’m thinking maybe it could’ve been wise to spread the message as we could be sitting here laughing to his jokes and not mourning”.

Reflecting on his relationship with Chigubu, Ntando said: “I remember in 2013 when I wanted to form Umahlekisa, Chigubu was the guy who encouraged and supported me.

At that point, we had gone through the same struggles with promoters who were taking advantage of us.” He said most of his amazing jokes were curated by Chigubu.

“Before shows, Chigubu would be with me backstage, suggesting things to do. And after the set, he would give me feedback and share tips on things that needed to be improved, that’s how supportive he was,” said Ntando.

He added that the two were so close that each time they were booked for shows outside the city, they would share a room.

“Whenever we attended shows together outside the city, we shared a room with no hassles yet others have challenges doing that.”

Ntando added that the country had been robbed of talent as Chigubu was undeniably the best comedian.

“Clive is one of the best comedians to emerge from Zimbabwe. Some of us are into comedy but this was a guy who really knew what he was doing.

I never saw him bore people and I don’t remember any show where people booed him,” he said.

Chigubu was a crowd-favourite, not only in his hometown but nationwide as he, in 2014, thrilled crowds so much during the Harare International Festival of The Arts that organisers had to book him for another show the next day.

Harare-based comedian Doc Vikela yesterday opened up on how they feared performing after Chigubu as he always raised the bar high.

“Show me one comedian who can claim that he had the guts to perform after Clive Vistarolice Chigubu.

The greatest that there ever will be! Our own headline act,” posted Doc Vikela on his social media pages.