30 YEARS AGO, TICH MATAZ WAS A THRIVING MILLIONAIRE IN US$ TERMS

Thirty years ago, Tich Mataz says he was a MILLIONAIRE, in United States dollars.

He was one of the poster boys of the buzzing entertainment scene as South Africa celebrated its Independence.

That was 1995.

The Rainbow Nation had been born, just a year earlier, and Tich Mataz was one of the stars providing the motion picture soundtrack as an entire nation was dancing to the rhythm of its Independence.

The walls of apartheid had fallen and there were opportunities everywhere for those who were daring to dream big.

Tich Mataz was one of those people.

The Springboks won the Rugby World Cup at home, defeating their biggest rivals the All Blacks 15-12 after extra-time, to send the Rainbow Nation into delirium.

There were 25 top-of-the-range cars in his garage, at least nine immovable properties on his real estate portfolio and a nightclub in Rosebank where the rich and famous of the new nation used to meet and spend big.

On Saturday, Tich Mataz clarified that his millionaire status was in US dollar terms.

“I was a millionaire in US$ terms,” Tich Mataz told H-Metro on Saturday.

Thirty years later, Tich Mataz isn’t that millionaire sitting on a beach of gold but he has kept himself relevant on the local entertainment scene.

He is not making the kind of money which was flowing into his bank accounts back then but he is doing just fine.

He plays on the local club circuit as a DJ, which is what he used to do at the beginning before he became a big star on Radio 3, which is now Power FM, and moving into South Africa.

“In South Africa I had won some big contracts and had lots of businesses,” he said.

“I was working with major corporates.

“You will recall that Reebok was until then predominantly white and sport in South Africa was beginning to open up and breaking into the blacks’ market.

“They wanted some blacks who would help them break into that market and I became part of that team.

“I think it was God’s blessing for me to become the first major black personality on a white radio station, I was on radio, TV, I had a night club and I had real estate.

“I was just lucky, I think, to be at the right place at the right time.

“I had a fashion house, restaurants and a lot of other things.

“There is this misconception that I was just a DJ but I was a businessman.”

On the Denny J podcast, three years ago, Tich Mataz put all that into context.

“When I first left Zimbabwe, I was getting paid maybe Z$2,000 and when I went to South Africa my first pay was R15,000.

“Remember I was a businessman as well.

“I had a communications company, Khulumani Communications, which handled a lot of corporate communications there, I had an investment company, I had a nightclub, I was doing some big deals at government level, I was buying some fancy cars.

“At one time, and it was stupid of me, I had like 25 brand new cars.

“I went to Jamaica just to see where Bob Marley had been born, I went to his shrine, his museum because I had the money.

“I went to see Michael Jackson do his last official concert, the History Tour in Prague, I was there.

“Before I met Michael Jackson in Zimbabwe, I met him there.

“So, I was really privileged to do some crazy things when I was young.’

But his world came crashing down when he was deported in March 1998 after being accused of living in South Africa illegally.

“So, if a guy is doing well, making money, why on earth would I try to turn my legal status into an illegal one?

“But sometimes it’s not up to you, is it?”

It’s now twenty seven years after his deportation and Tich Mataz acknowledges there were things he could have done differently.

“When you grow up you understand perspective. You begin to see things from an eagle’s viewpoint,” he told Denny J.

“If some guy from Malawi comes into this country and takes over the marketplace, becomes the hottest guy on TV, the very nature of the Zimbabwean or any other human being would be to ask ‘who exactly is this guy?’

“Isn’t there someone else who can do what he does?’

“I ruffled a lot of feathers and even though I had favour in some of the highest offices the one thing I should have known is that when a king leaves his country for another, he does not remain king even there.

“When I got there, I was blinded by all the excitement, money was flowing. I was not able to read what was happening within my surroundings.” *_-H-Metro_*