The Sunday Mail
Noah Pito in Hurungwe
A HURUNGWE chief has banned show promoters from hosting dancing queens at Magunje growth point saying that most of the group’s performances conflict with the values and morals of his area.
Chief Dendera recently made the decree while addressing more than 50 village heads who had gathered at the growth point for a ward assembly meeting.
“We must not compromise our tradition and put money ahead of our values and morals. A woman must not expose her private parts for the sake of money. From today, no businessperson shall hire or host such dancing groups at this centre. These ladies are violating our traditions here, let them do it in Harare and not here,” he fumed.
Chief Dendera threatened to take the matter to higher offices in order to effect the withdrawal of operating licences for any businessperson who resists his order.
Over the past few weeks, seasoned dancing queen Beverley “Bev” Sibanda (real name Junior Lizzy Zinhu) and other mushrooming semi-nude dance groups have been rocking Magunje growth point. However, some revellers felt that the groups were subjecting them to soft porn.
Chief Dendera believes that the raunchy dances by semi-nude women was as good as prostitution on stage and should not be condoned as it offends the spirits of the area. This leads to droughts, diseases and mysterious accidents, he argues.
Dancers’ Association of Zimbabwe president Harpers Mapimhidze said while the chief was right to denounce naked or near-naked groups from performing in his area, it was wrong to apply a blanket ban on all dance groups.
“Not all groups get naked on stage or are involved in prostitution. Most are actually genuine dance groups seeking to earn a living through dance and not prostitution.
“Some are even into traditional dance,” said Mapimhidze, who is also raunchy dancer Bev’s manager.
He added: “It’s only a few bad apples causing all these problems for the entire industry.
“I think the chief should reconsider his position because our dancers feed off these growth points and there are hundreds of groups.
“This will set a very bad precedent and might prove very costly to the industry.”
