THROUGH IT ALL: The Voice We Mistook, The Woman Who Stayed

Mpundu Valerie

For years on radio, some of us argued.

"That is Olinda."

"No, that is Mercy Mutsvene."

We never knew it was Rumbie Zvirikuzhe, the voice behind "Mweya Nenyama / Huya Mweya Mutsvene" and "Ndinoshamiswa Kwazvo," among other timeless gospel classics.

Those songs did not just play; they ministered. They became timeless divine classics in our homes, at funerals, at all-night prayers, in kombis. But the face remained unknown until television finally did us justice.

Then, like many Zimbabwean songstresses before her, we tucked her memory to the back of our heads. In our minds, she had cut her vocal cords. Gone quiet. Finished.

She hadn't.

What we did not see were the 20 years in between.

Rumbie Zvirikuzhe kept worshipping from 2006 to 2026 through personal valleys and mountaintops that many will never know. That is why her 20th anniversary is not called "20 Years of Hits." It is called "Through It All 20 Years of Worship, 20 Years of Grace and Gratitude."

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you... when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned” — Isaiah 43:2. That is not a marketing line. That is a testimony.

On 10 October 2026, from 3PM till late at the Anglican Cathedral Gardens, that testimony becomes an altar. She will not be alone. She brings with her the company of those who have also walked through fires, Agatha Murudzwa, Trymore Bande, Blessing Shumba, Raymond Chakanyuka, Pastor Haisa, Apostle P. Sambo, Pastor C. Vengere, and John Alex from Tanzania.

It is not a comeback. You cannot come back from a place you never left. It is a gathering for those who still remember what "Huya Mweya Mutsvene" did to them the first time they heard it and for those who thought the singer was long gone.

Twenty years later, the voice is still here. Still worshipping. Through it all.

Rumbie Zvirikuzhe