Philosophical Nyandoro puts brave fight for ZIMA, but admits system is flawed

“…we are going to implement system disrupt as the Zimbabwe Music Awards (ZIMA). We want to ensure that the awards reflect on the wishes of the people going forward,” were the words of the public relations and marketing manager for the ZIMA’s, Benjamin Nyandoro during an interview on Power FM, Tuesday afternoon with radio presenter of the moment, Rumby Chamvary.

If Nyandoro was a lawyer he would be the most sought after defence attorney in town due to his conduct on the radio show. As cool as a cucumber the Public relations man put up a great show to defend his institution. We must say kudos to the chairperson of the awards, Joseph Nyadzayo, you chose the perfect man for the job.

Back to the issues now, whilst Nyandoro throughout the course of the approximately hour-long interview was dodging questions asked by Rumby to try and protect the integrity of the awards, he did admit one thing, the ZIMA system is flawed.

“We have heard the concerns of the Public and I must say we take them very seriously. The criticism we are receiving is very necessary. This is a necessary phase and all the concerns being raised are valid. We are certain that these will help us improve the awards over the course of time,” said Nyandoro.

“I cannot say what you want me to say, that the system we used was flawed. We created a system that would reflect things as objectively as possible. This system ensured that the secretariat would not be involved in the adjudication process. It also made sure that the judges would not make decisions based on their feelings but maintain objectivity.

“We also had an independent auditing firm that verified the results. All these processes were followed and that is how we came up with the winners.”

But having said this, he went on to emphasise that going forward their system needs to be changed.

“…we are going to implement system disrupt as the Zimbabwe Music Awards (ZIMA). We want to ensure that the awards reflect on the wishes of the people going forward.’

“Our system has rules but these can be looked into to ensure that they assist in producing results that reflect on the demands of the Public.

“We will not withdraw any awards but will begin to look into issues of how to improve our system. We will ensure that we create an even and fair playing field,” shared Nyandoro.

An unconvinced and bullish Chamvary kept pressing Nyandoro to respond to why certain individuals such as Takura got awards whilst the likes of Ti Gonzi failed and why Gemma got the RnB gong ahead of Tamy Moyo and he responded saying, “The adjudication process was based on the artist and their respective works. For instance, Takura entered the awards in the Hip-hop category with the song Zvemoyo (which some argue is not a hip-hop track). He was judged on that song and his previous works.”

This is such a suicidal statement as it proves that the judges were not basing their judgements on the 2019 calendar year. Takura only had one song in that year so if one was to refer to other respective works then he was nowhere near Ti Gonzi.

With this statement the shinning defence attorney, Nyandoro shot himself in the foot.

On who were the judges who got the nation so agitated with their work he said, “I will not reveal the names now but I can say the team comprised of journalists, DJ’s and academics who have made and are still contributing a lot to the development of the music industry.”

Having dodged the critical questions, admitted that the system needed change and also stating that no gongs are to be withdrawn, what is the way forward for the “untrusted” ZIMA’s?

“The ZIMA judges will soon release a statement to address the concerns of the Public. This is when the judges will also be revealed. We are taking all concerns seriously and in that statement, we will ensure that clarity is given so that future awards will represent the desires of the public,” revealed Nyandoro