Who is He
- His real name is Xavier Madzikatire and ‘Safirio’ was a corrupted version of ‘Xavier’
- He was a multi-displinary artist specialising in comedy and music
Early Years
- Born on the 2nd of April 1932
- He was from Tanda, Rusape
- Grew up in Mbare with his mother’s family, the Madzikatires and was his mother’s only child
Wife
Ntongasi Lucia Madzikatire
Three Children
( Elijah, Rufus and Nancy Madzikatire)
Primary School
- At Chitsere in Mbare
- Where he was groomed by Linah and Kenneth Mataka to play a guitar, their drama was already being aired on the Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation (RBC)
Career
- He started playing the solo guitar known as the banjo in the 1970s.
- teamed up with Susan Chenjerai’s daughters to form ‘Mhuri yavaMakore’ which was produced by Webster Shamu and aired on radio
- It was later changed to Mhuri yavaMukadota due to a disagreement with the producers in 1972 in which his son Elijah starred as ‘Rwizi’
- Mukadota and his son Elijah featured in a Surf television commercial ‘Bata tambo tsvuku’ led to the Lever Brothers sponsoring the drama on television
- He began his live shows with female dancers, backing vocalists known as the Sea Cottage Sisters but he had no music instruments
- Later bought a full set using the money he made from the television and radio dramas
- Formed the Ocean City Band which consisted of saxaphonist Phillip Svosve, Adam Maliko playing the lead, Shoki on rhythm and Jonathan on drums
- The band produced songs like ‘Pasi harigute’ and ‘Karate’.
- He later found a girl who was a talented entertainer and that was how Katarina and the release of songs like ‘KwaHunyani’, ‘Ndine mukomana wangu’ and ‘Ndatenga mota’ came to be
- The band later changed its name to ‘The Brave Son’ after a certain incident
He passed on in 1996
Controversies
- He once bet his wife at gambling
- Had a gambling addiction including his passion for pinball game popularly known as flipper
- Two days before two shows that were lined up in Harare on Thursday and Friday, all his band members unceremoniously left to form another band
- His band ‘Ocean City’ split after a show in Bulawayo in which Mukadota was chased away from the stage by audiences who did not want sketches but music that night.After the show, Mukadota who had spent the whole night backstage is said to have wanted to collect a bigger chunk causing an uproar that led to the split
In Memory of Mukadota
- The Culture Fund of Zimbabwe erected a statue his honour plans were on-going to establish a Mukadota Comedy Festival
- Oliver Mtukudzi dedicated a song to Safirio titled ‘Andinzwi’
- In 2009 he was awarded a post-humous Arts Service by the National Arts Council
- His son Elijah has featured in soapies and films like Studio 263 as ‘Huni’, Tiriparwendo as ‘Mambo Rima’ amongs many others.
