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Mthabisi Tshuma, [email protected]

POET Dr Gasolo has revealed that the walkathon he has been undertaking from his rural home in Matshetsheni village in Gwanda North to Bulawayo via Gwanda has turned out to be a “spiritual” journey.

Aimed at promoting appreciation of the creative sector and raising awareness on drug and substance abuse, Dr Gasolo’s walkathon took place last week. The artist continues to defy the odds by being a non-athlete who walks over 250 kilometres in three days.

Speaking after the successful walk last week, Dr Gasolo said this year he realised that the walkathon is more “spiritual than I thought”.

“As a man who strongly believes in our African tradition, I received a revelation about this walk as I was doing it. I understood that the idea of this walk was brought to me by the Creator and my ancestors so that I could separate myself and be in a position where I can easily connect in the realm of the spirit and be spiritually sensitive to receive the message and convey it to the people.

“I believe the postponement of the walk was by divine intervention, as it wasn’t a coincidence to have the walk a few days after the King Mzilikazi Annual Commemoration. Those are the days I am very spiritually alert. As we prepare for the King Mzilikazi Annual Commemoration, we fast from other things and concentrate on what lies before us. I continued with that same spirit right up to the walk, which I believe is why this year I was more sensitive. It was revealed to me that in the past two years, the walk was a test to see if I could be trusted with the message that the Creator and the departed want to convey to our leaders,” said Dr Gasolo.

He said the message is clearly directed to the traditional leaders around the Matabeleland region.

“The reason why the walk is on the Bulawayo-Gwanda road is because our problem as a region is mostly on that road, and our traditional leaders know that and have kept quiet about it or chosen to delegate their responsibilities to others. That road is full of blood and needs cleansing; only traditional leaders can lead the cleansing. The message I received was to tell our traditional leaders in the southern part of this country to do the right thing on the Bulawayo-Gwanda road. Yes, they may ask or invite others from other regions, but they are the ones who ought to lead the way.

“As they prepare for that, they know exactly what needs to be done. We fast and prepare ourselves spiritually for such ceremonies. If this is done correctly and our traditional leaders also lead us in rainmaking ceremonies and do everything that our forefathers used to do, this drought we are experiencing today will be a thing of the past,” he said.

Dr Gasolo expressed his elation that everything went well during the third edition and has already started preparations for the fourth edition.

“Judging from the themes I had set for myself, I think the objectives were achieved, all thanks to the media that has been and is still talking about these objectives. The idea was to make the world aware that alcohol, drugs, and substance abuse are wrong and must stop.

“The other aim of this walk was to make the public conscious of their own local artists and support them. All these were greatly publicised by the media,” said Dr Gasolo.

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