Murmures

Scores of fans were injured at the City Sports Centre in Harare in the early hours of Sunday morning during the ‘Sting’ dancehall show after a scuffle on stage resulted in the police firing teargas into the crowd. This led to a stampede as frantic showgoers ran for dear life.

As has become characteristic of Zimdancehall shows, a fence was put up around the stage in anticipation of cans and bottles thrown onto the stage by fans. And they did rain, those cans, as various camps tried to express their disapproval of artists from opposing sides. Only Killer T managed to perform in front of the fence – and no cans were thrown his way.

The chaos all started at about 3am, towards the end of the event, when Seh Calaz and Soul Jah Love got physical on stage, prompting a few excitable fans to start fighting. This is despite Seh Calaz’s earlier assertion during an interview with Zimbo Jam that he and Soul Jah Love were just rivals and not enemies.

Police, who could have dealt with the few scuffles that were breaking out, for some reason decided to punish all 5,000 plus people who were there, and started firing teargas into the crowd, sending the thousands of revellers scurrying for safety.

Some got trampled in the process and sustained serious injuries. Others were cut by zinc sheeting used as part of the barricades around the stage and yet others, sustained dislocations and fractures after running to the top of the bleachers and then jumping out of the windows to the ground, about 8 metres below.

imbo Jam photojournalist, Tsitsi Ndabambi, was covering the event and was knocked over as she tried to photograph the chaos. She sustained injuries to her left leg and a heavy blow to her right ear and was also sent scurrying for cover as the crowds surged forward trying to escape the violence and teargas. She is asthmatic and started experiencing breathing problems from inhaling teargas. She found refuge in one of the ladies' toilets, along with some other people. There she found another asthmatic woman who had an inhaler which they shared.

She was later on transported to Suburban Clinic in Warren Park by the artist Blue Ice and some friends. There received medical attention and, with her phone off after the battery had died, was missing in action till about 1pm today when we finally heard from her.

With teargas stinging their eyes, some people were opening bottles and cans of beer and pouring them over their eyes, while others reached into toilet pans, despite the strong smell of urine, and poured the water onto semi-concious friends, trying to revive them.

A number of cars were damaged as barricades were pushed over outside the venue, with people scrambing over vehicles in search of safety.

Zimbo Jam visited Harare Central and Parirenyatwa hospitals this morning and the nurses on duty confirmed that they had admitted casualties from the City Sports Centre riot. They would not say how serious the injuries were or if anyone had died as rumours on social media platforms are insinuating.

At midday StarFM reported that there were unconfirmed reports of people who had died during the stampede.

Event organiser and arts promoter Partson ‘Chipaz’ Chimbodza was unreachable for comment. Another promoter, Josh Hozheri, who was also at the show said that he had managed to escape without injury but that his car windscreen was smashed in the chaos.

Police are investigating the issue and have not confirmed if there were any deaths at the event.

Ironically, mid-morning when we visited the City Sports Centre, there was very little evidence of the chaos that had transpired just a few hours earlier as the venue had been prepped up for Emmanuel Makandiwa's Sunday service and already scores of worshippers were inside awaiting the commencement of the service.

A double irony was that the theme of the event was one of promoting peace among dancehall artists. The name of the show, Sting, is actually an acronym for Several Talented Individuals Need Guidance. Guidance….

Meanwhile, there have been claims by journalists who saw the various artists from different camps chatting happily together backstage, that the tiff between Soul Jah Love and Seh Calaz was pre-planned as a stunt to add hype to the event, and that promoters did not forsee the possible chaos this would cause.