by Brian Dlamini
The recently released #Demloot song by political activist, Hopewell Chinóno is another damp squib undertaking that will not propel Zimbabweans to revolt against their own Government.
Chinóno is trying too hard singing for his supper, which saw him making headlines for the wrong reasons in the recent past.
For the past six months, the US embassy-sponsored political activist has been arrested three times for inciting violence ahead of the 31 July 2020 planned anti-Government protest, also on contempt of court charges for making unsubstantiated claims of corruption within the country’s national prosecution authority and the latest charge on publishing falsehoods after he tweeted alleging that police had beaten an infant to death while enforcing lockdown rules.
Riding on his latest arrest and release from custody, Chinono has embarked on purported nouvelle strategies to please his handlers by coming up with something different in the form of a reggae song, titled #Demloot, which accuses Government of corruption.
Speaking to one online publication after releasing the song last week, in his naivety, Chinono said his trump card was that he “knew that a lot of our youths in Zimbabwe listen to reggae music” and therefore they would be more receptive to it if he used art form.
By making that assumption, he hoped that his song would go viral, but alas that was not the case. Only a few youths following him on his social media platforms seem to appreciate his misplaced effort.
So far, his project seem to be unpopular. As at 6 February, his original tweet of the song on 31 January has generated a paltry 1,000 comments and received mixed reactions from the targeted audience. On Youtube, the song has performed poorly, as it has only garnered 1,400 views.
What Hopewell forgot is that some of his targeted audience, mainly the youths in rural areas would certainly not listen to his song. For instance, some youths in Dombodzvuku in Murehwa, Sikente in Tsholotsho and Nembudziya in Gokwe would have no time and means to entertain his shenanigans.
Currently, the youths are busy doing income generating projects and also nursing the various Government initiated Pfumvudza crops as they look forward to a bumper harvest this 2020/21 farming season.
Chinono’s latest attempt to lure youths come after crashing with them for ignoring his anti-government endeavours. Last year, he received a backlash from the youths after he tried to gain sympathy and criticised them for not participating in his so-called “political, economic and social fights” with the Government.
The #FreeHopewell hashtag that was fronted by MDC political activists such as Makomborero Haruzviishe and Fadzayi Mahere, among others that sought to garner support for Chinono when was in custody failed to gain traction among the youths as they ignored it. This really proved that Hopewell had no much influence that he claimed to have on the youths.
What Hopewell should know is that Zimbabweans would never support his shenanigans. Today’s youths are much wiser and they would not be easily hoodwinked by American embassy-sponsored proxies masquerading as human rights activists. His attempts to lure youths will go the same way his predecessors’ strategies fared, nowhere.
