Violence mars Harare Cup Clash Partson Chimbodza

Nyore Madzianike Senior Arts Reporter
VIOLENCE once again marred the annual Harare Cup Clash held on Saturday at the City Sports Centre where a number of Zimdancehall musicians battled for supremacy.

Chaos broke out moments after midnight with some rogue elements hurling stones and missiles from outside the tightly secured City Sports Centre in a bid to force their way into the venue.

A number of cars parked outside the venue were damaged while some revellers were also reportedly injured.

Police details were forced to engage in running battles with the youths that were orchestrating the chaos.

Promoter Partson Chimboza, organiser of the show that marked the end of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show, apologised to owners of properties that were destroyed by the hooligans.

“Firstly, we would like to apologise to the owners of vehicles and other properties that were destroyed after some rogue elements started throwing stones from outside the City Sports Centre,” he said.

“These people decided to hurl stones from outside the venue after they failed to force their way into the venue, as they wanted free entrance.

“It was unfortunate that in this day and time, there are some people who think of resorting to violence in the event that their negative missions would have failed.”

Chimboza said more than 20 cars were stoned.

They are still to ascertain value of losses incurred during the disturbances.

Chimbodza said violence at music shows defies all efforts and investment that would have been done by musicians, promoters and those who attend gigs.

“There was tight security and after realising that there was no way they could force into the venue, they decided to hurl stones from a distance resulting in the destruction of properties.

“Such actions by those people are deplorable. The reason why we put tight security at that venue was because we knew that some people wanted to disturb and find ways of getting into the show for free,” he said.

Chimbodza said causing chaos at entertainment venues steals all the glamour but was grateful that chaos did not lead to the abandonment of the show.

“This time around there were no missiles which were thrown on stage.

“It is also good to note that there were no incidents of violence that occurred inside the venue with all the artistes who were billed to perform taking to the stage,” said Chimbodza.

The show ended around 6:30am, with Dadza D bringing the curtain down on a memorable night of dancehall music.

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