Buffalo Souljah sets out to be first local artist...

Buffalo Souljah sets out to be first local artistes to fill up National Sports Stadium

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Audrey Galawu

Zimbabwe-born South-African based reggae artiste Thabani Ndlovu (popularly known as Buffalo Souljah) has taken to his social media timeline revealing he has wishes to host the first ever fill-up concert in the Zimbabwe National Sports Stadium.

Buffalo Souljah made the announcement following contemporaries in the industry who have successfully done so in their countries of origin. He said if Cassper Nyovest (SA), Davido (Nigeria), Fally Ipupa (DRC) filled up their hometown stadiums, he, too, could do it.

Hip pop artist Cassper Nyovest made history by hosting several successful fill-up concerts in his country. In 2015, he filled up the Dome in Johannesburg with over 68 000 fans and this year he dared to host another fill-up concert at Mabutho stadium which reportedly cost around R16 million (US$932 121 44) to put it up.

In March 2021, Fally Ipupa filled the Abidjani Olympic Stadium, the country’s with a capacity of 80 000.

In similar fashion, Bufallo Souljah says he wants to imitate the achievements by these artistes by staging and filling up the NSS in Harare, saying in a recent post on Instagram:

“They say great men take risks, calculated or not. One thing about me is I feed off negativity. Coming from my hood Mufakose, I was always told I won’t make it in life but I did.

“I rebel against the system breaking all the rules to achieve what I have this far. Therefore, I have decided to sell my Mustang (vehicle) to invest in the #zadzanationalsportstadium. Backward never, forward ever,” he said.

A glimpse into the past, however, shows that there were few events – mainly involving foreign artistes, which managed to pull crowds large enough to fill the NSS. They include the November 1998 CAF football clash between Dynamos Harare of Zimbabwe and ASEC Mimosas of Côte d’Ivoire.

A staggering US$1,2 million was budget by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and a private partner to bring music megastars Akon and Sean Paul and Buju Banton and the 6th All Africa games were some of the events staged in the NSS.