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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
VICTORIA Falls artistes have accused their Harare counterparts and promoters of sabotaging their acts by deliberately switching off mics and electricity at a show last Friday.

Four Vic Falls artistes namely Breeze Sox, Top Kings, The Navy Bwoi and Jah Mercy performed at the opening of

The Yard, a leisure centre formerly known as KoPanashe on the outskirts of Victoria Falls.

From Harare were Quality Mashasha and Jah Master who was the main act as well as DJ Legendary, DJ RaeJae and DJ Skelta Mahofa who is Jah Master’s personal DJ.

Vic Falls artistes claimed they were subjected to constant blackouts as machines were deliberately switched off.

The show almost turned into a circus and at some point, bouncers attempted to throw Top Kings’ Nkosenhle and Nkosikhona Ncube off the stage after the twins protested when their mics were switched off.

Police with dogs were called in to quell chaos as fans had started jumping onto the stage in protest.

The show started on Friday midday and ended on Saturday around 3am.

In separate interviews, the Vic Falls artistes said the issue of sabotage is a culture they have endured for some time.

“We have travelled this road before and we knew it was going to happen hence we refused to have their DJs on the decks. When they see that fans are happy, they switch off mics or pull out power cables.

“On Friday fans went crazy when we played Amakhekhekhe and just after we started uMellisa, somebody pulled off the power cable. We protested and they brought their bouncers when we refused to hand over the mic and leave the stage. When we finally left, the organiser refused to give us our money as he kept dodging us until someone intervened and told him to give us our money,” said Nkosikhona of Top Kings.

Nkosikhona bemoaned ill-treatment by promoters and show organisers.

“We know how they underrate Victoria Falls artistes in order to exploit us. They should value us the way they value those from Harare and fans should know how these promoters treat us,” he said.

Breeze Sox was reportedly pushed off stage before he could finish performing.

Jah Mercy, real name Munyaradzi Mugauri said while he wasn’t officially invited to perform, he was subjected to sabotage as DJs kept distorting sound.

“I kind of get-crashed just for the love of it and DJ Skelta was supposed to be my DJ. He was randomly skipping songs and deliberately opposing what fans wanted. At some point the mic just went silent. I kept my cool because I wasn’t officially invited to perform but this is bad.

“This sabotage has been happening all along. It’s clear we have a lot of stumbling blocks to deal with before we make names as Vic Falls artists. It’s like Harare artistes are little gods worshipped by promoters. There should be a system compelling artistes to stay in their rooms when others are performing to prevent this,” he said.

Navy Bwoi whose real name is Dennis Samba had to change a DJ on stage because of the sabotage.

“Yes, I changed DJ because I didn’t want someone from Harare on the decks because of sabotage,” he said.

He was only paid on Saturday.

There were no hiccups with sound when Jah Master and Quality Mashasha played, Showbiz learnt.

Contacted for comment, Ngonidzashe Makoni, the owner of The Yard who organised the show blamed local artistes.

“Actually, local artistes are the ones that switched off machines for Harare artistes,” he said.
Asked to explain, Makoni requested some time and promised to phone back which he did not do. His number was not reachable thereafter. – @ncubeleon.