Tedx Junior and Poet, Takunda Muzvondiwa Makes an Impression on the Poetry Scene Within Aotearoa

We got to catch up with poet and Tedx Junior Takunda Muzvondiwa who has made an

impression on the poetry scene within Aotearoa. Takunda’s artistic style, and poetry, is often

giving social commentary to the lives and experiences of the people that she relates to as a

queer, black and African person. Her bachelor of arts- double major in Sociology and Māori

studies teaches her about the interactions of people who are like her and people who aren’t.

Takunda has spent half her life in Zimbabwe and the other in Aotearoa, travelling back and

forth from both, she appreciates the close connection she has to her culture which has

enabled her to stay grounded and connected to her roots of which she takes a lot of

inspiration from.

‘’Most of my inspiration is just through lived experience. Conversations with people, my

family members, my background. Usually, I'll be having a conversation with someone or I'll

just be walking somewhere, see something, and it might inspire that first line of a poem.’’

During Takunda’s last year of high school in 2019 she entered a speech competition called

‘Brace Unity’. A video of her performing her speech was shared on Facebook and wracked

up millions of views which caught the eye of Tedx and she was invited to speak on stage at

Tedx youth.

Speaking on her own personal experiences and the experiences of the wider community as

a black person living in Aotearoa and the interactions with pakeha. She spoke about the

synonymous experience of herself and other minority groups within the community, and the

problems they face. Although an emotionally heavy issue it was well received and safe to do

so through the power of sharing her most authentic voice in spoken word and poetry.

Takunda’s recently competed in the New Zealand JAFA poetry slam competition during the

most recent covid lockdown. Where she placed second behind a dear friend Dan Godwin

who she celebrated for winning the competition.

With the lockdown’s finished and life slowly returning to normal, Takunda is excited to be

back out performing to live audiences with fresh new content.

‘’One poem that I've been performing a lot recently, and that I still hold very near and dear to

my heart is about a cultural ideology known amongst my people called ‘Shona’ people,

ngozi, which I guess we would understand to be the avenging people, the avenging spirits.

And the poem basically speaks of how through the process of assimilation, especially for a

lot of us Diaspora people. We've lost the belief in ngozi in the power of our spirits and

ancestors and things like that and have been, basically coerced into believing more so in

things like UNICEF and Worldvision, to be able to rescue and save the continent, through

the process of white saviorism. And there's a line in the poem that talks about how the sub

Sahara stays burning and on fire. But somehow we are told to believe that the arsonists are

here to put out the fire. That's just talking about how I think that imperialism has this fear or

extreme disbelief that Africans would ever be able to bring healing to themselves. And that is

just so untrue. Because if there's anyone who knows best how to bring healing and the

restore racial and resurrection of Africans, it is us. It is through pan Africanism, and the

power of our people that we'll be able to do that, as we have the greatest understanding of

our own needs, and we're intelligent enough and wise enough to be able to do so that is just

a shame that a lot of our resources to do so have been stripped away from us through

various lootings and things like that.’’

Performing these poems can be quite heavy, ‘’especially because most of my poems are

largely in front of a predominantly pakeha audience. And I think that that can be something

that's extremely difficult for them to carry. But, I think it's important to give onus to them, and

responsibility for them to take action on a lot of things.’’

Takunda’s work is a reflection of her own personal lived experiences, she is a well educated,

intelligent individual who thrives in writing and articulating heavy real life lived experiences.

With a long reading list including essays from Malcom X, Takunda recommends that people

‘’Go out and pursue knowledge within books. Read them and engage in critical thinking. And

understanding that is sufficient because I come from a collectivist culture, that nothing we do

in this life is without impact. We have such an interconnected network of people, that

everything, every action that we take, everything that we have to say, has a flow on effect.

So to take that into account with everything that we do, because everything that we do does

have a social effect.’’

But, poetry is not all that Takunda does, nor the only passion she has

‘’At the moment, there are a lot of really cool avenues of art that I'm really passionate about.

I’m leaning more into my acting and making music, so in the next couple of months, I'm

hoping to release my first single which will be really exciting. I'm really, really excited but

nervous because it's my first single, but it's music that I'm really excited about.’’

You can find Takunda performing her poems around the Auckland poetry scene. If you wish

to stay updated on her work and music follow Takunda on instagram @takunda101

Some final words of wisdom from this young creative is ‘’go out and pursue knowledge within

books. Read them and engage in critical thinking. And understanding that is sufficient

because I come from a collectivist culture, that nothing we do in this life is without impact.

We have such an interconnected network of people, that everything, every action that we

take, everything that we have to say, has a flow on effect. So to take that into account with

everything that we do, because everything that we do does have a social effect.’’