Zimpapers Logo

Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent 

SOUTH Africa’s Dr Malinga who finally made it to Bulawayo this Thursday said he never cancelled his initial show in the city due to xenophobic attacks.

Dr Malinga was in Bulawayo for a show on Thursday night at The Vista and another one at the official opening of 4Js Bar in Plumtree. 

At the height of the xenophobic attacks in South Africa in September this year, Dr Malinga who was supposed to perform at the Umcimbi Wabantu, was said to have cancelled his scheduled performance due to the violence. 

But speaking to Saturday Leisure at Red Café before his performances on Thursday, the Akulaleki hit-maker said he was surprised to learn that he had cancelled the Umcimbi Wabantu performance. 

“I was surprised when I learnt that the show (his performance) was cancelled. I saw that on social media. I never said anything about cancelling my performance. I think my former manager Lawrence (Netshifhefhe) is the one who cancelled the show as those words never came out of my mouth. 

“Or maybe the promoters are the ones who cancelled for security reasons for my safety,” said Dr Malinga. 

He said there was no way he was going to cancel his performance as he was willing to perform because he did not see anything wrong with him being in Zimbabwe, even though there was violence against foreign nationals in his home country. 

“I’m not afraid of anything, especially when I know that I didn’t do anything wrong. People knew who was doing those xenophobic attacks in South Africa. Malinga didn’t do anything and I didn’t tweet anything supporting the acts. 

“I know that my fans aren’t crazy that they’ll attack me without any cause,” explained Dr Malinga.

 The Umcimbi Wabantu performance was the first cancellation by Dr Malinga out of two with the second one being a rescheduled Umcimbi Wabantu last month where he once again, failed to pitch up. This time around, it was allegedly because of his passport which had run out of pages. Rolling out a brand-new passport, Dr Malinga further explained that he discovered his old passport was full and had no space for more stamps when he wanted to travel to Bulawayo last month.

Turning to his career, the musician said he has since split with his manager, Lawrence and now manages his own career. He also revealed that he has a new album on its way titled Holy Piano, moving along with the Amapiano craze that has gripped his country.

Known for his high energy and high kicks, Dr Malinga said the high kicks were a product of his karate training. 

“I wanted to be different from other musicians. They can dance any style and they can beat you to it, but when you come up with your own style, no one can beat you at it. So, I decided to infuse karate training I learnt in my youth with the artistry, hence I have those kicks that have become my trademark.”

Dr Malinga who clearly does not like sleeping as he so far, has five songs to that effect such as the 2015 track Akulalwa with DJ Shimza, 2016 Akulaleki featuring Trademark, 2017 Angilalanga Izolo featuring Josta and Ngiyolala’ngifile said these tracks do not talk about sleeping per se, but about working hard. 

“These songs are a symbol of working hard. I’m not talking about literal sleep, but how one can afford to dance the whole night without working hard. You can’t dance the whole night in the club without money in the pocket. You need to work hard to feed yourself,” said Dr Malinga. 

After the interview, Dr Malinga travelled to 4Js Bar which he found packed to the brim with fans ready to be rocked. He then travelled back to Bulawayo for a performance at the Vista and entertained fans there.