FRIENDS of the late controversial socialite Genius “Ginimbi” Kadungure have insisted that they will continue with the tradition of an all-white party he popularised despite misgivings by his family.
Ginimbi passed away in November last year after he was involved in a horrific car crash that also claimed the lives of his friends Karim Limumba, Alichia Adams and Mitchelle “Moana” Amuli.
The quartet was travelling from Ginimbi’s Dreams Nightclub where Moana had celebrated her birthday when the Rolls Royce Wraith coupe they were travelling in collided with a Honda Fit before bursting into flames along Borrowdale Road.
In their bid to commemorate the late larger-than-life character, who popularised all-white parties, Ginimbi’s friends have lined up a bash on what could have been Ginimbi’s 37th birthday — October 10.
Before his death, Ginimbi had for the past consecutive 17 years religiously held the all-white parties to celebrate his trip around the sun.
In the first years, the shindigs were held in Harare but as his popularity and well grew, Ginimbi “exported” the parties to places like Gaborone, Botswana, Dubai and South Africa.
The who-is-who of entertainment circles and socialites filled the guest of Ginimbi’s gatherings where expensive champagnes and whiskies would “rain” all day while beautiful vixens attended scantly-dressed in white.
It appears that the late socialite’s inner circle is not yet ready to give up on this yearly “ritual” despite Ginimbi’s unfortunate demise.
According to circulating fliers, the gig is scheduled to be held in Cape Town, South Africa on October 10, with Zimdancehall star Killer T as the headline act.
Many other socialites in Ginimbi’s circle have already started promoting the shindig on social media under the hashtag #AllWhitePartyLoading.
Wanisai “Mahwindo” Mtandwa, believed to be one of the organisers, confirmed the event in an interview with the Daily News on Sunday.
She, however, insisted that the mooted Ginimbi memorial event was still at conceptual stage.
“Yes there are fliers. However, this party thing is still just an idea. If we happen to finalise it, we will give an update. I cannot say much. The late’s birthday is in October so we still have time to come up with certain ideas,” Mahwindo said.
Ginimbi’s family, which claims it was not consulted on the shindig scheduled for October 10, has slammed the organisers.
Juliet — the late Ginimbi’s sister- had no kind words for the organisers of the unsanctioned memorial event.
“We were not involved in the planning of this event and for this reason we are not part of it. I do not know why they would want to do such a party when the immediate family is not involved. You then wonder who gave them the go ahead,” Juliet said.
She said there should never be a memorial event for Ginimbi without the involvement of his family.
“They should let my brother rest in peace and the organisers should feel bad about such gatherings. For now, I do not know what we are going to do about it but there should not be a party where Genius’ name is involved without the family approval,” Juliet told our sister paper, the Daily News last week.
The apparent tiff between Ginimbi’s friends and his family over the proposed event won’t surprise many.
Never one to shy away from the spotlight, Ginimbi was stalked by controversy right to his death.
Ever since he began flaunting his lavish lifestyle on social media, people began throwing around various theories about how the businessman had amassed his wealth. Some even claimed his death with three friends was “mystical”.
Soon after his death, Juliet claimed that Ginimbi often spoke about how he wanted to be buried in style.
“He always reminded us how he wanted his funeral to be. He had a plan and always said ‘ndiri (I am) big,’ so make sure at my funeral, you should not hurriedly bury me… He said he had friends all over the world, so when he died, they should be given time to come and attend, so never hurry,” she said.
Ginimbi indeed got the burial he had wished for. True to his controversial nature, he was buried at his Domboshava mansion amid pomp and fanfare in violation of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
His burial, however, failed to nip in the bud the shadow of controversy associated with the late socialite.
Since his death, Ginimbi’s family has been at odds with the executor of the late socialite’s estate over an unsigned will purportedly left by the late businessman.
The contentious will bequeathed a top-of-the range Lamborghini Aventador to his long-time friend and confidante Nomatter Zinyengere, who is popularly known as Kit Kat.
Since Ginimbi’s death, his family has refused to surrender the posh vehicle to Kit Kat — a dispute which has also spilled into the courts.
After growing up under humble surroundings in Domboshava, Ginimbi rose to become a colourful businessman with interests in the renewable energy, logistics and entertainment sectors.
At the time of his death, he claimed to be the biggest liquified petroleum gas distributor in Zimbabwe and Botswana while some of his business operations were also based in South Africa.