As Thomas Mapfumo plans return for Jah Prayzah, Wicknell Chivayo shows, Joshua Maponga pleads for amnesty
Zimbabwean public speaker, author, philosopher and former Seventh Day Adventist pastor Joshua Maponga has written an open letter to President Emmerson Mnangagwa appealing for amnesty, safe passage and a national pardon for Chimurenga music legend Thomas “Mukanya” Mapfumo.
In the letter dated 31 July 2026, Maponga describes Mapfumo as a living national monument and not a terrorist.
“I write not as a petitioner, but as a Watcher of the House of Stone — a voice from the soil that remembers what the Republic has chosen to forget,” Maponga wrote to Mnangagwa, whom he referred to as Mwenemutapa.
He said Mapfumo “is the voice and sound of the liberation war set to the mbira. He is the voice that sang when others were silent. He was imprisoned without charges by the white regime for supporting the same struggle that brought the flag you salute today.”
Maponga said Mapfumo was “hounded by the previous dispensation for singing ‘Corruption’ — a song that was not rebellion, but prophecy.”
The letter appeals to Mnangagwa to withdraw any file, charge or warrant against the musician, and to issue a public guarantee for his safety.
“Your Excellency, the world watches. The musician fears not justice, but vengeance dressed as law,” Maponga wrote. “Grant him full amnesty and safe passage. Issue a public guarantee that no hand shall touch him, no court shall summon him, no shadow shall follow him from the airport to the graves of his fathers.”
“Let him come home to bury his dead, to sing to his people, and to die on his own soil — not in exile, like a prophet without a country.”
Maponga said Mapfumo is 81 and has given Zimbabwe five decades of music, adding: “What remains is not much — only the dignity of return. Do not let him end his days as a ghost in Oregon. Let him end them as a lion on his own mountain.”
He copied the letter to the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, the Minister of Arts and Culture and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services.
The appeal comes as Mapfumo’s possible return to Zimbabwe has dominated public discussion following an offer by Wicknell Chivayo.
Mapfumo has said he will return to Zimbabwe to perform at Chivayo’s birthday and fellow musician Jah Prayzah’s wedding. Jah Prayzah’s wedding is set for August, while Chivayo’s birthday is in November.
Mapfumo has agreed to perform two concerts in Zimbabwe funded by Chivayo for a total of US$1 million, at US$500,000 per show.
In a video message, Mapfumo confirmed he would travel to Zimbabwe for both performances, describing the arrangement as a professional undertaking rather than a political statement.
The 81-year-old icon, whose music has for decades challenged corruption, abuse of power and social injustice, has been based in the United States for several years.
Maponga said granting the pardon would be an act of magnanimity and not weakness.
“This is how kingdoms are remembered. The man who pardons the voice of the people writes himself into the ancestry of the nation,” he wrote. *_-Pindula_*
