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Blessings Chidakwa Arts Reporter

OLD TIMER, soft-spoken man and with grey hair comes wisdom.

A man with many faces from the town of Rusape, a farmer, politician and sculptor.

David Guy Mutasa.

Only when he utters a word that is when one can know the Mutasa talking.

But he rarely loves talking, preferring his works to do so, reaching even arguably the highest office on earth, that of King Charles III of England.

When his name is uttered in the sector in Zimbabwe people are usually taken down memory lane to his works including statues of the late Vice President and national hero, Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo and Mbuya Nehanda.

However, Mutasa did a lot of sculptures for the country, including the Zimbabwe bird in front of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in Harare.

He also has a hand in the sculpture at the prestigious Eastern Mural at National Heroes Acre in Harare where he worked with Koreans.

Mutasa believes his strength is that of being a fearless person.

In his own words, he said one of his “biggest notable works” in 1981 is at the National Heroes Acre which he participated in after challenging Koreans through the President’s office to be part of the project.

He said they made a petition and the President granted them the opportunity to work with Koreans, saying they were offered to do the work as they assisted the country in the liberation struggle.

“There was a bit of resistance, but they later allowed us to work together. There was a problem of language barrier. We were using very few words like, ‘this one good’. It was quite an experience.

“The Koreans were told that the eastern mural that they had done as you enter the Heroes Acre was to have designs of Zimbabweans because it had the true reflection of what was happening,” said Mutasa.

Worldwide, Mutasa also has remarkable works which include a bust for King Charles III of England and Marcus Garvey.

A bust is a sculpture of a person’s head, shoulders and chest.

He even broke records, having done a statue of the first black person erected in Bristol, England that of Alfred Fagon.

Fagon was a British playwright, poet and actor.

He was one of the most notable black British playwrights of the 1970s and 1980s.

On King Charles III, he did his bust around 1990 when he was still a prince saying they met during an exhibition in the Barbican Centre in London.

“We asked our embassy to help us bring in Prince Charles to officiate that exhibition. When he came to officially open, we were not allowed to go out where our pieces were displayed for security reasons.

“We were in the hall waiting for him to actually see our works and then come to us. So, when he then came, he was introduced to me as David Guy Mutasa because I used to sign all my works by my name,” he said.

Mutasa said King Charles III then told him of having been admiring one of his pieces.

“I said which one is that and said the one which looks very human, very realistic.

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“I said I do portraits, why don’t you commission me to do one of you and present it to the Zimbabwe Government to mark the 10th anniversary of Zimbabwe’s independence,” he said.

Mutasa said five months down the line he then wrote a letter to King Charles III reminding him of their conversation and a week later there was a reply from his office saying he had agreed to commission the bust.

“I said how much am I going to charge him and said no I should not make him pay me, but look for a British company with interest in Zimbabwe to actually sponsor this, I went to Rio Tinto Zimbabwe,” he said.

Mutasa said he then told Rio Tinto Zimbabwe officials that he would advise King Charles III that he was going to write on the plinth commissioned by Prince Charles and sponsored by Rio Tinto Zimbabwe.

“That was one word and he said how much do you want we are prepared to sponsor it. I was quite comfortable with that sponsorship.

“Prince Charles did not actually pay me, Rio Tinto Zimbabwe paid for that artwork which was then presented to the Zimbabwe Government to mark the 10th anniversary of Zimbabwe independence,” he said.