When I started realising my potential in the early 90s during the Jenaguru Music Festivals which I had initiated, I began investing in real estate. I went for houses, flats and open grounds. I had noticed that many of my fellow musicians who fell by the wayside when their paymasters (the fans) stopped supporting their brand of music, experienced severe hardships. I did not want to fall into the same trap. I would rent out some of the properties to those who could afford to pay monthly rentals. That was the time I started killing my financial problems. Owing to that simple enterprise, I must thank God that my life graph started to ascend.
In the ordinary course of doing my property business, one day I advertised for a four bedroomed house in Athlone Township. I got a very strong response. I interviewed many people who were interested in occupying the house. My interview enquired about the prospective leasee’s place of work, his/her current lodgings and why he/she was deciding to move to a new place of residence. I would require two to three witnesses and his/her next of kin. Lastly, I would draft a lease contract for a year and he/she would pay a deposit which was equal to the monthly lease amount.
I remember meeting one of my would-be tenants at ‘She and He Hair Saloon’ where I used to go for a good haircut. The guy wanted to move in with his family of five made up of wife, three kids and a young brother. He introduced himself as Lovemore Chinoputsa. ‘She and He’ is on the ground floor of Harvest House, which is owned by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). When we agreed terms Mr. Chinoputsa moved into the house. He honoured his promise of paying deposit and monthly rentals when he moved in.
For three months he paid his rentals and rates without any problem. From the fourth month onwards, I started having payment problems with Mr. Chinoputsa. He would sometimes come to pay mid-month giving all sorts of excuses. I advised him to find a cheaper alternative house to rent which he could afford. I could see that he was struggling to make ends meet, yet he wanted to be counted among the affluent. We reached a time when he could go without paying for 2 to 3 months. Communication with him was difficult because he kept his phone unreachable. I decided to give him a written notice of early termination of our lease contract on account of his continued breach. He had spent four months without paying rentals and even rates to council as per our agreement. I tried to reach out to him without success. He was perennially not reachable on his many mobile phone numbers. Even visits to the house did not bring any joy as I could not find him each time I went there.
One Saturday afternoon, I decided to take the law into my hands. I asked two guys who were my caretakers on my other properties to accompany me to the house. I had spare keys for the house, so I decided to remove all his property from my house. Mr. Chinoputsa’s domestic servant called him to alert him about what was transpiring. While we were still in the process of taking the property out of the house, a man who claimed to be Mr. Chinoputsa’s lawyer called me, threatening me with serious charges. I could not tell whether the man was genuinely a lawyer or not so I told him to go and hang. I think that made Mr. Chinoputsa realise how serious the issue had become. He then mobilised a team of violent MDC youths who came from Tafara and Mabvuku. The rowdy youths were brought by two pick-up trucks. That was the day I knew that Mr. Chinoputsa was the leader of the MDC Youth Department. They forcibly returned into the house all the items we had taken out. Mr. Chinoputsa himself was not there, but I gathered from the youths that he was in Zaka campaigning for the position of Member of Parliament. When I left, the MDC youths remained at the house guarding it.
After the encounter with the MDC youths, I engaged a lawyer from Mushonga and Associates to assist me with the legal process of evicting Mr. Chinoputsa from my house. We made an appointment to talk to Mr. Chinoputsa’s lawyer. I was also advised by my lawyer to register my case with the Rent Board. The Rent Board gave me a document which clearly stated that Mr. Chinoputsa should vacate the house he was occupying for failure to pay monthly rentals and refusing to talk to the owner of the property. The letter from the Rent Board was countersigned by Rhodesville Police Station as required by the law. The process was long and tiresome. Things were moving at snail’s pace while Mr. Chinoputsa continued staying at my house without paying. I lost my patience.
I made a second attempt to forcibly remove Mr. Chinoputsa from my house. I went with four other people. This time I was prepared to fight back if attacked. In approximately three hours we had moved all belongings of Mr. Chinoputsa out of the durawal. Again, he was informed by his domestic worker about what was happening. Like before, he brought two truckloads of MDC youths. He filmed his belongings which were scattered outside with his phone. He then started scolding me using vulgar language to which I did not respond. I just wanted him out of my house.
Mr. Chinoputsa then drove to Rhodesville Police Station to report a case of theft, claiming that when I removed his belongings from my house, I stole a computer, two cellphones and two tablets all valued at US$3 800. Instead of paying my rentals, he was now suing me for stealing. I was now under criminal investigation. I spent six months attending court at Rottenrow Court. Since he was contesting for political office in Zaka, Mr. Chinoputsa didn’t want his name to be smeared by court proceedings. He gave the responsibility of testifying in court to his wife. Mr. Chinoputsa himself never appeared in any of the court hearings; only his wife and his body guard did. The case was dismissed after a lengthy period in court. I was found not guilty for many reasons, not least that Mrs. Chinoputsa could not provide serial numbers for the allegedly stolen gadgets. All that time when we were going to court, Mr. Chinoputsa was not paying rent for the house. After being discharged from the criminal court, I reported Mr. Chinoputsa for non payment of rentals at the civil court. Mr. Chinoputsa was summoned to attend court but until now he has not attended the court.
After that incident with Mr. Chinoputsa I decided to try once more, this time with the clergy. I thought religious people would not disappoint, especially if they were leaders. I let the same house to pastors Mr. and Mrs. Asani under conditions similar to those I had with Mr. Chinoputsa. Pastor Asani was running a supermarket at Athlone Shopping Centre. After failing to pay rent for three months, they suddenly disappeared from Athlone Township without trace. I had to repair all the damaged areas of the house. It cost me substantial sums of money. I was again on the receiving end. If you report these issues to the court, they will ask you to find the address of the culprits, and then report to the messenger of court, so that a warrant to attach property can be granted. The hassles you have to go through are so stressful that I decided not to report Pastor Asani to the courts. People in Zimbabwe must just learn to live within their means. I learned some big lessons from my unfortunate dealings with Mr. Chinoputsa and Pastor Asani. First, I learned that It is a serious offence to forcibly remove someone’s property without a court order. Secondly, I learned that it would be better to leave the house unoccupied than let it to my fellow black Zimbabweans. To avoid headaches, I have decided to rent my houses to Indian, Chinese and Russian tenants.
In another story, I was preparing to go to Japan on a schools’ music and dance cultural exchange programme. Everyone in Africa knows it is extremely difficult to get a visa, let alone enter the immigration points, of Asian countries. When Asians come to Africa, they enter our borders without difficulty. Sometimes, many of their children can even enter our countries without passports. I had to get passports for the kids I intended to take for the cultural exchange programme. In those days, it was very difficult to get a passport at Makombe Building. You either had to sleep at the gate to be first on the line or bribe a passport officer to get it. Since I was doing national duty, I thought it was pointless to follow the disorder which used to be the order of the day at Makombe. I decided to approach the Registrar-general himself, who at that time was Mr. Tobaiwa Mudede. I had been advised at the information desk to do so.
I was welcomed by his personal assistant who told me that it was only possible for me to see Mr. Mudede if I first made an appointment. I was supposed to go back home and phone his secretary for an appointment. I told the personal assistant that it would be a waste of valuable time since I was already within his office. The lady insisted that was the procedure everyone had to follow. I could not believe what I was hearing. Time was not on my side. I asked the personal assistant if Mr. Mudede was in his office to which she responded in the affirmative. I got angry. I shouted at the woman telling her that the country was not progressing because of people like Mr. Mudede who had overstayed in their positions. Mr. Mudede who, all along, had been listening to my conversation with his assistant, came out with an angry face. He ordered a ZRP security detail who protected his office to arrest me. The armed policeman carried his order accordingly. He forced me to sit down and my shoes were removed. Within twenty minutes’ riot police came in their numbers. They threatened to beat me but I kept my cool. Mr. Mudede told the leader of the police details that I had made a lot of noise and that I had said that President Robert Mugabe had overstayed in power. It was a big lie: I hadn’t said that. I had said Mr. Mudede had overstayed in his position.
I was taken to Harare Central Police Station for questioning. When I denied the charges in total, they threw me in the wire, popularly called the cage at the police station. The cage was packed with many vendors who had been arrested from Harare Central Business District. Some were paying fines and others who didn’t have money for fines were being detained. After two to three hours, a senior police officer called my name and I followed him to his office. He told me to pay a fine of $20 for misconduct. I told him I couldn’t pay because I didn’t think what I had done was a crime. The officer told me that he was following orders from his superiors. I had to be charged to satisfy Mr Mudede ‘s ego. I was only set free after paying the fine.
A similar incident happened again in a short space of time. Tomoko Takahashi and I were window shopping in town. Suddenly, plain clothes policemen jumped from a moving lorry. They started harassing vendors confiscating their wares. Many were arrested. I felt very angry towards the secret police who showed no mercy towards street vendors who were trying to make ends meet by selling small items which are not very profitable.
I confronted the policemen and told them to stop being heartless to their kith and kin. What they were doing was not good for society. They all turned against me. I was arrested at the very moment and taken to the undercover police agency department at the Vehicle Central Registry (CVR) building. I was made to pay a fine of $20 for public incitement. I had no choice but to pay the fine. At times one has to take the risk to suffer for fellow Zimbabweans.
The song Nesango aptly describes my life journey. The next day after my release from Central Police Station for alleged disorderly conduct at the Registrar-General’ s office, I had no choice but to go again to Mr Mudede ‘s office. This time I kept my cool . Time was of essence. To my utter amazement, Mr. Mudede ‘s office received me with open arms. Mr. Mudede himself came out of his office and greeted me by my full names. He asked me how best he could help me. I told him I needed help to apply for passports for kids I wanted to travel with to Japan. Mr. Mudede told me he knew about the programme I was preparing to undertake. He then instructed his deputy to assist me with all my requirements. I was assisted without delay. I collected all the passports within three days and I thanked all the staff that assisted me.
Life is a struggle full of battles. You have to face each battle head on. Fighting the battles won’t be easy but there is no option for retreat. Through perseverance and the grace of God, one eventually overcomes. I have experienced many hurdles in this life journey but I thank God who has taken me this far.