Knight says once and for all: “He’s not my dad”

The rumours are not new, Knight told New Zimbabwe.com from Manchester, England, where he now lives with his family, but they are still as false as when they started years back in Zimbabwe.

Knights pencil-slim build and facial looks have attracted rumours that he is the son of the superstar singer, and the former Radio 2 DJ admits to being amused by the whispers.

He said: The first time I heard of it was a ZBC producer jokingly saying I looked like Mtukudzi after we recorded an interview for a TV programme. I said in fact Mtukudzi looked like me, not the other way round.

Then Tuku said kuzvipedza (to solve this), today you are Eric Mtukudzi and Im Oliver Knight. We all laughed and I didnt expect many years later wed still be talking about it.

The rumours would return with a vengeance in 2005 when Mtukudzi released his acclaimed album, Nhava, out of which drops the song, Hazvireve (It Doesnt Mean) in which he appears to be communicating with a son he has never met, but a product of a teenage sex tryst.

In Hazvireve, Mtukudzi sings: Hazvireve rudo handina/Hazvireve rudo handina mwanangu we Mai vaiva mwana mudiki/Ini ndakanga ndichiri mwana mudiki Hazvireve rudo handina newe mwanangu/Rudo ndinarwo mwanangu Mhaka yavepo takatukana, kupopotana/Amai ndokuoneka/Amai ndokuramwa … Muku famba kwenguva ndakatozonzwa nerunye rekupe/Hazvireve rudo handina newe mwanangu Takasanganga pamhararano/Ndika bvunza Mai mwana aripii ko?/Hazvireve rudo handina newe mwanangu Tichaonana tichaonana/Kana Mwari vada (zvarongeka)/Hazvireve rudo handina newe mwanangu/Rudo ndinarwo mwanangu.

(It doesnt mean I dont have love/It doesnt mean I dont love you my child Your mother was still young/I was also young It doesnt mean I dont love you my child/I have love for you my child The problem was we had a disagreement, and we shouted at each other/Mama said good-bye/Mama gave up in frustration With the passage of time I heard through rumours/It doesnt mean I dont love you my child We met at the crossroads and I asked your mother where you were/It doesnt mean I dont love you my son Well see each other, well see each other/If God allows (its sorted)/It doesnt mean I have no love for you my child/I have love for you my child).

Knight says he was forced to buy the album after rumours reached him that the song was dedicated to him. He said: Mtukudzi doesnt know my people. My late father was an Indian immigrant, while my mother is from Filabusi (Mat South).

I have visited Mtukudzi and his family in the past, and had dinner at their house. His wife, Daisy, also found the rumours funny. Hear it from me, Mtukudzi is a very good friend of mine and that’s all.

But who am I to spoil peoples fun, if they want him to be my father, he can be. Meanwhile Mtukudzi, defying rumours of his death, begins a four-stop tour of the UK early next month.