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The late Give Nare

Bongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
REVOLUTIONARY music group Light Machine Gun (LMG Choir) founder Give Nare was buried on Saturday at his rural home in Buvuma, Gwanda South. Nare, 79, who had four children, died last Wednesday at Gwanda Hospital after suffering a heart attack. LMG band member Happiness Sibanda said they were still waiting on the Zanu-PF Matabeleland South provincial leadership to hear if Nare would be accorded liberation hero status having submitted a request last week.

“The local leadership asked us to compile his history of which we did and handed over to them. They said they would get back to the family on whether he would be declared a hero or not,” said Sibanda.

Matabeleland South Zanu PF acting provincial chairman Rapelani Choene could not shed more light on the issue as he was in a meeting when contacted yesterday. Sibanda, however, said the family could not wait any longer hence their decision to bury Nare on Saturday.

She thanked fellow war veterans and friends for coming in their numbers to bid farewell to Nare.

“It’s a sad loss, but the support given made it easier for us to mourn our colleague,” Sibanda said.

Born on January 1, 1937, Nare did his primary education at Buvuma in Gwanda and his secondary education at Manama Mission. After completing his secondary education, Nare had a stint as an untrained teacher at Buvuma (1963), Selonga, Nkalange and Malibeng (all in 1964). He attended Musume College in Mberengwa to train as a teacher and started teaching professionally from 1966.

In June, 1972, Nare travelled to Botswana to join the war of liberation. After some years there, he crossed over to Zambia where he trained for infantry at Nampundu camp. In 1978 he was transferred to the JZ School to join a teachers’ choir called Jazz Choir. After singing for a while, he joined Radio ZAPU Choir under the leadership of Sifelani Maqethuka Dube.

Nare later on left the choir to pursue his dream of forming his own choir. He then consulted fellow cadres in the struggle, Rose Madongo, Meteabo Sebata and Tsepile Ndebele and they formed the choir called Light Machine Gun.

As the liberation war was drawing to an end, the late Vice President Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo sent the late Sikhanyiso Ndlovu to watch choirs at JZ Moyo camp. A choir was to be chosen to accompany Nkomo to Lancaster House in London and also inform people in Zimbabwe that the country had been freed from colonial rule.

Out of four choirs namely LMG, Mbube, Radio Zapu and Sigwagwagwa, LMG was judged the best.

Ndlovu then asked them to add women to the choir of which Portia Dube, Thobedzo Ndlovu, Gladys Ndlovu and Sizwe Dube were added. Later on Sandra Ndabalime and Sibusiso Ndlovu joined the group.

At the Independence celebrations in 1980, they performed alongside reggae icon Bob Marley and the Wailers. After independence, Nare went back to teaching and retired from the profession in 2001.