of my comfort zone. I’m all about
that, smashing stereotypes.
GM.: “Amadoda”. Please share
with us the meaning and
concept behind this
movement?
Munashe: ‘Amadoda’ mean men
in Zulu. Our vision is to create
men of value. It all started when I
and four friends met a lady who
was begging and we were in a
mall in Joburg and she looked at
us and we were drawn to her.
We asked her how she got into
the circumstance she was in. She
started explaining how she was
abused by the male figures in her
life. She was sexually abused by
her father and forced into a
marriage, and her only option
was to run away and live on the
streets. For her the streets were
her only way of freedom. And it
got us wondering as to what type
of role models we have in our
society. Not just in South Africa,
but in the whole continent. We
began asking ourselves what
kind of man do I want to be?
What role do I want to play?
What legacy to I want to leave
behind? Through our inquiry we
discovered that there is such a
disconnect in our society. Our
culture tells us that men are
supposed to be the providers of
the family, men are supposed to
be responsible, to be there for
their children, for their wives;
but in actual fact we find that
there are men disbanding their
role; and women having to fulfill
that role most of the time. Our
solution to this fracture in our
society was to rally up young
men, to re-define the role of a
man and live up to it. We started
our campaign on Facebook. We
created the AmaDODA page and
started asking people to tell us
in 40 words why they have to
be successful. We put it up and
requested our followers to send
a picture as well, which was
necessary to emulate one of the
pillars of Amadoda,
accountability. The movement
went viral and over a thousand
people caught on to the
movement. Young men from
across South Africa were
sending in their contribution to
Amadoda, even a few CEOs and
lecturers. We got 1500 likes.
This spurred conversations
about wanting to be successful
and taking a stand on being
there for the woman in their
lives, to provide for them, like
their mothers who had
sacrificed for them and had put
them through university. I was
really moved by some of the
responses. One of the followers
said that he wanted to be
successful for his mother who
had given up her job to take
care of him. We saw there was
a unanimous desire of giving
back. And that’s what we
wanted to create in young men,
create men of value. So from
there we have been having
conversations with people, like
people in the media, on radio
mostly. Amadoda allowed us to
have a platform where we could
engage people in dialogue and
because it went viral, it helped
attract the attention of the
media, which gave us an even
bigger platform to reach a wider
audience. We have since been
on Cape talk Radio, SA FM,
we’ve been on the UCT
Monday paper; we’ve been on
all those platforms. It’s amazing
that the response we have
gotten has been mostly positive
and everybody who resonates
Groove Magazine Zimbabwe
to Amadoda and recognizes that
something needs to be done to
change the current status quo of
men. We need to change the
perception of how men are
portrayed in society.
GM.: You are about ‘men of
value”. What is your definition
of a “MAN”?
Munashe: I would like to start by
saying that because each one of us
has different experiences we all
have a different definition. But for
me, my definition of a man is a
person that is responsible. By
responsible I mean someone who
knows their duties, firstly in their
house and in their community.
And exactly as I said, Amadoda
resonates with the following
values; responsible, accountable
and useful.
GM.: In your life, who are your
role models?
Munashe: In my life, I would have
to say that it’ my father. I have
been privileged to have a father in
my life, who is there, who is
supportive. When I moved to
South Africa, I would have to say
my pastor from church, who has
been a helpful and supportive
mentor.
GM.: In media, or from popular
figures, who are the men that are
portrayed as good fathers/ male
role models? What can young
men take from them?
Munashe: I will answer that
differently. The media portrays
different images of men. But there
are so many people who do great
things but are never given credit
for it. Think about the guy who
gets a girl pregnant that takes the
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