WE continue to reflect on some of the most WTF, surreal moments to hit us this year.
11. Ginimbi Twerk Parties on Instagram
In April, when twerk parties and strip club entertainments were rare, late flamboyant socialite Genius Ginimbi Kadungure hosted Twerk or Treat Dance-off competitions on Instagram Live, a phenomenon that defined most of our lockdown experiences. As wild as the life he lived, Ginimbi TV was a place where your favourite people went to but would never want to be recognised in the mix. It was the space where your graduated cousin sisters, strippers and retired porn stars twerked while their friends poured strawberry milk or some creamy white substance on their behinds.
The GTV presented itself as a better medium for the departed mbinga and his fellas to express horniness publicly as well as their affinity for wild entertainment as beautiful women from all corners of the world committed crimes against humanity with gummy bears and bottles of milk, robbing their families the only essential ingredient to preparing their Frosted Flakes.
Detractors criticised Ginimbi for his pimp-like propensities and demeaning women by offering them to dance for money prizes, but that didn’t stop him. Somehow disorganised and overstepping Instagram’s community bounds of nudity and sexual activity one time too many, the show suffered huge blows of network delays and temporary shutdowns. And yet as explicit adult-only TV it was, Ginimbi insisted that the show was not about nudity but creativity and being oneself. WTF?
12. Celebrities Parody Accounts Endorsing #ZLM
In July when our timelines were streaming with searing digital activism – #FreeHopewell #FreeJacobNgarivhume and #ZimbabweanLivesMatter – some Twimbos who were so desperate to push the movement set up multiple parody accounts and manufactured social media posts for celebrities like Jah Prayzah and Winky D endorsing the hashtags. Whoever these folks were, they misled many people and confirmed that society has allowed celebrities to influence our political and social views, and most importantly that we seem to mindlessly prioritise the message of celebrities over that of professors, experts, or activists.
13. Tino & Mudiwa: Of Dirty Socks, Bedrooms & Torsos
In August, two Zimbabwean heartthrobs, Mudiwa Hood and Tino Chinyani had their tension erupt into the pettiest social media feud in history! Read the full story here.
14. TeeMak Ponzi Scheme
At the beginning of the year, Taona “TeeMak” Osward Chipunza, a 23-year-old Malaysia-based promoter-cum-financial expert, made news when he announced that he had signed dancehall star Enzo Ishall for a five-figure United States dollar amount advance. He was called “a maverick millionaire in United States dollars terms, a larger-than-life character who deceives you at first sight with looks, calmness and composure” and they claimed he makes mega millions.
While he claimed that he makes money through his company Maximus Capital, a hedge fund based on forex trading, he left us with a WTF look when it was reported that he was on the run after swindling unsuspecting investors that included cabinet ministers, high net worth earners, church leaders and ordinary folk alike of their hard-earned money through a collapsed Ponzi Scheme.
TeeMak is said to have assured his alleged victims of a massive financial windfall on their investment. However, the scheme, with all the marks of serious foreign exchange fraud, collapsed spectacularly at the end of June. At the time, those based in the United States, Germany, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, South Africa and China said they have lodged police reports in their various jurisdictions, desperately hoping to draw the attention of Interpol, as they claimed, “the boy has to be stopped”.
15. Simps & Alpha Widows vs Shadaya
In April, a neurologist named Lenon Gwaunza attested his love for Fadzayi Mahere on Twitter. In Gwaunza’s own words, the lawyer was “the most intelligent and beautiful woman” he knew, and he figured that he’d “shoot his shot” on social media. The conversation quickly escalated from being about the two to vast COVID-19 fundraising schemes, date plans with corporate sponsorship, and being a ludicrous battle for professional glory that pitied medical and legal practitioners.
Almost every Twimbo thought what Gwaunza and Fadzi did was funny but Shadaya. In his usual largely macho and dismissing tone, the controversial social media personality put a Twitter thread entitled “The Simp & The Alpha Widow” in which he insinuated that for Lenon a “simp” to pander for a woman’s attention by “shooting his shot” on the timeline was a clear testament that he lacked the poise to approach a woman. As he “figured he’d be ignored,” Lenon thus employed worship like words in his address to “pedestalise Mahere “like a Goddess’.
Upon realisation that Gwaunza was “a simp”, Fadzi who is derogatorily referred to as “The alpha widow”, thought it was brilliant to expediently “use him to push her own agendas,” Shadaya said. Read more on the story here.
16. Impala, Masotcha, Muchehiwa’s Abduction & Torture
To this day, I still don’t know WTF happened to that kid, what that woman did/didn’t do or what the men did.
17. The Murikundikuvadza ne Mbambaira Kid
In May, a 3-year-old Zoolian Karendo became an overnight internet sensation, got himself, among several other endorsements and goodies, enough groceries to open a tuckshop, trendy clothes and a generous school fees pledge after he starred in a video clip complaining about over-reliance on sweet potatoes.
“Murikundikuvadza ne mbambaira (you are overdosing me with sweet potatoes),” the boy protests in the video recording, to which his father prods, “saka wanga uchida kuti ndiite sei (What do you want me to do)?”
And the boy responds: “Tengai chingwa! (buy bread!).”
The video, which went viral, touched the hearts of many people with companies like Bakers Inn, Proton, ZimGold, Dairibord Zimbabwe Private Limited, Roil Cooking Oil and individuals pledging to assist him.
But that got me thinking that no amount of bread is worth dragging a 3-year-old kid through the limelight as a recipient of charity. If the brands were genuinely helping they would have done all they have done (except the DNA test) without letting the left hand know what the right was doing.
18. Hopewell Chin’ono vs Jah Prayzah
In October, prominent investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono was engaged in a war of words with musician Jah Prayzah on social media. Chin’ono had earlier challenged the Kutonga Kwaro hitmaker to follow in the footsteps of the late legendary singer Oliver Mtukudzi in denouncing injustices committed by Zimbabwe’s ruling elite against its citizens.
In his response, Jah suggested that while Chin’ono has his phone number and would have called if he had any constructive advice for him, he chose to stir controversy on social media for “loves” and “retweets”. Well, let’s just say it escalated from a zero to a hundred.
19. Jah Master Kicks Fan
While performing in Chinhoyi sometime in October, Zimdancehall star Jah Master kicked a fan, Eric Cantona on the back of the head after the latter jumped on stage to dance. The incident was captured on video and caused outrage online.
20. Rimo Collecting Ginimbi’s Debts
Soon after the passing of his friend Ginimbi in a car crash, Tinotenda “Rimo” Marimo, popularly known as Rimo Jackson, was alleged to be chasing debts owed to the late multi-millionaire without the knowledge and consent of the Kadungure family. It was alleged that man was capitalising on the fact that most of Ginimbi’s transactions had no paper trail.
Watch out for part 3 of the 40 Most WTF Moments of 2020.
