Zambia: Mixed Feelings Greet Big Brother Eviction · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

The eviction of Zambia’s representative, musician popularly known as Mampi, from the on-going Big Brother Africa seventh series, has been received with mixed feelings from netizens.
Big Brother Africa: StarGame is the seventh series of the Big Brother Africa reality television series which will air for 91 days and the winner will walk home with $300,000. Produced by Endemol in South Africa, the show has become the most popular reality TV show in Africa.
Mampi, real name Mirriam Mukape, lasted three weeks in the house before she was nominated for eviction by other housemates. While a lot of people felt that the musician, well known for her raunchy stage antics, was a let down to the nation for her conduct in the reality TV show, others thought that her experience in the house enhanced her “relational capital.”
When Zambian Watchdog broke the news of Mampi’s eviction, most of the readers did not hesitate to condemn the musician.
A TV screen shot of Mampi in the BBA House. Picture courstesy of Paramaunt Spit's Facebook Page
One reader, Gloria, did not mince her words, comparing to another Zambian contestant who won the inaugural BBA series, Cherise Makubale:
She is a big very big embarassment, the opposite of Cherese, listen to her words on this youtube She is a big very big embarassment, the opposite of Cherese, listen to her words on this youtube She is a big very big embarassment, the opposite of Cherese, listen to her words on this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2w0EjH15q8
Another reader, Violet wrote:
Yippee im so glad shes gone, she’s a hater and a gossiper. i wonder if she was aware of that…..Jooo Mampi we wont miss uuuo….Now Maneta must follow her shes one irritating little bee BZZZZZZZ….looks its not all that…. Manner and dignity they both dont have…..Byeeee
Said Ras-Kadafi of Mampi’s eviction:
Is it so surprising, honestly? u pipo u dnt get it, jst like most of us, Mampi ni mwana wamukomboni [Mampi is a child of high density and poor residential areas], u can’t tel me u had hope 4 Mampi, in fact 2-3 weeks was jst too much 4 Mampi, she is used to showing her private parts in public and yet u expert the most such a one, i mean they are pipo who know the difference between acting and real life, but not Mampi, She’s part time AN musician and part time A public stripper, Thanks God we did not see more before she could come back home. ” […]
One reader, Ndumeleti, came to her aid:
Which show are these guys watching? Surely Mampi in the big brother house behaved far much better than some of the housemates e.g. Zainab, Lady may and even maneta. Talk of the dance yes, but nudity….it reminds me of the Chansa kabwela saga! Zambians learn to support your own. She lost because you Zambians tagged her as a bitch and a bad person and didn’t vote for her. In the house she tried to be as descent as possible given the circumstances, she never even took alcohol. Have you seen Zainab take off all her clothes or dance in her underwear on camera! come on wake up!
But it is her fellow musician, Saboi Imboela, studying for a Masters’ degree in New Zealand, who defended Mampi’s appearance on BBA on her Facebook wall:
Congrats to Mampi (mwanenu) for increasing your ‘relational capital’. Being on the BB show is like going to university in the academic world. Before, only the 13million people of Zambia knew you but now the whole of Africa does. Its not the degree or the relational capital a person has that makes them big, its what they do or plan to to with it that separates the boys from men, women from girls. Life will never be the same for u again just by exposing yourself to Africa in the past few weeks so what you do with that capital is all up to u. Lastly, i personally would do all i can to convince hubby and our sponsors to have u play the lead role in our upcoming project. We are spending so much to bring in the Nigerian actors becoz we didnt have a Zambian star who was known to the whole continent. Now we have u and we can sell a product to other countries with u in it coz your ‘relational capital’ has grown…. So people that rejoice when a person does not go as far in a competition of this magnitude only do so becoz they are limited in their thinking and have no idea just how many ways a person can gain a lot more from such an experience- so chimbwi ni ndani [so who is a hyena]?…. Im ever so proud of u mwanenu- u r made of steel.
Another netizen, Isaac Mwanza, also on Facebook, added a political dimension of Zambian women not supporting a fellow woman:
Mampi Mukape rejected by her own people and Zambian women were in forefront of decampaigning her. I think its an illusion to support women in Zambia when they cant support each other. Let us all rally behind Roki of Zim or Prezzo of Kenya for BBA prize!
On another citizen media news website, Tumfweko, snr pastor wrote:
Please my fellow zambians lets try to give support to whoever is trying to represent our beautiful nation Zed.I for one was actually very disappointed to note that ONLY 1% accounted for the votes that were sent by Zedians,but take a look @ SA regardless of the nonsence their housemate pours everyday,they still rally her 100% behind.That simply explains how much those guys are united.The same applies to Nigeria, Ghana, Botswana to mention afew. So please, my fellow zedians lets emulate other countries and do the rest for our surviving BBA stargame inmates. I equally aware that Zedian housemates are currently feared because of their potential.
May God Bless Zed!!
Equally on Twitter, netizens expressed varied views:
@ChibuyeK: RT @skrypted: Dear haters, mampi actually did something and got a wider coverage while u wasted work hours watching her<she got some cash too
Another tweep, still hopeful about another Zambia BBA participant, tweeted:
@DJLBCZambia: Now that mampi is out, my interest in BBA has dwindled, but wait, we still have Paul Ngozi[a Zambia musician who died over 20 years ago]'s daughters in the game.