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Machanic Manyeruke admires the Jaguar XF that was reportedly bought for him by the organisers of a tribute concert to celebrate the gospel singer’s 40 years in music

Yeukai Karengezeka Entertainment Reporter
Veteran musician Machanic Manyeruke will not get the promised present of a Jaguar XF this year as uncertainty shrouds the vehicle handover ceremony following revelations his would-be benefactors do not have enough funds to host the event.
The handover dinner, which was supposed to be held yesterday, has been provisionally rescheduled for March 15, 2014 as the organisers, who claim they will only release the vehicle at a big ceremony, say they are still mobilising funds.

Pride Africa Network hosted a tribute concert last month at the Harare International Conference Centre where they displayed a Jaguar XF claiming it was bought for Manyeruke in honour of his service to gospel music over the past 40 years.

Shepherd Sirewu of Pride Africa Network said they want to make a big honorary ceremony for the 71-year-old gospel musician hence the need for more resources.

“Our committee has decided to hold the dinner on March 15 next year. We realised that we overestimated our ability to hold an event of such magnitude within a short space of time because we do not have enough money to cover all the bills for the dinner,” said Sirewu.
He said they have not managed yet to pay the South African gospel singers who were billed to perform at the dinner.

“We had contracts with songbird Rebecca Malope and Sipho Makhabane but we failed to make the payments on time.”
According to Sirewu, they had planned to make the event bigger by hosting a bash in the afternoon and a dinner in the evening in order to make a big event and that would also raise money to meet Manyeruke’s other needs.

“We are doing our best to ensure that we compensate for this delay by giving him something in addition to the car. It is not a good idea to just handover a car to a man of his stature without raising more money for his other needs, especially maintenance of the vehicle. Baba Manyeruke has agreed to the date we have set.”

Manyeruke was uncomfortable  to comment on the matter. “I wouldn’t want to comment on this matter because this was something they organised for me out of their own will. I never asked for it, so I can’t ask them too many questions over the matter. Probably they have shifted the date because they want to make the event bigger and better,” he said.