Nothing irie about Rita Marley February 16 2007 Bob Marley's wife 'might have the name, but she doesn't have his philosophy', write Kwanele Sosibo and Percy Zvomuya erhaps no region, outside of his home area, occupied Bob Marley’s mind and lyrics more than Southern Africa when he was at his peak in the late 1970s. No doubt it had to do with the decolonisation processes that were going on in Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe at the time. Although Africa has rid itself of its colonial masters, the songs War, Zimbabwe, Revolution and many others remain relevant. The old-style race-based system may be gone, but the unequal relations it created are still with us, morphing into even more virulent forms. The song Revolution says “it takes a revolution to make a solution” and declares “never make a politician grant you a favour, they will always want to control you forever”, showing Marley’s distrust for governments and bureaucracies. His message of continental unity remains ever more relevant at a time when nation states, carved out at the Berlin Conference, are frayed at the edges, fragile and about to tear apart because of fights about who controls resources. The secessional fires in Biafra have not been doused, Ambazonians want to break away from Cameroon and oil-rich Cabinda has tired of Angola. However steadfast Marley was in his vision of a vigilant, egalitarian Africa, his legacy today is being tainted by custodians like his widow, Rita Marley, who has mastered celebrity philanthropy to the extent of stomping on the grave of her dead husband to further her self-enrichment. Wherever Rita goes these days, she finds the opportunity to flog her three-year-old book No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley, in which, to the delight of the European media, she claims that her late husband raped her. To jolt the sluggish publicity machine for the initial Africa Unite concert in Ethiopia in 2005, Rita made the shock announcement that she would exhume Bob’s remains and re-bury them in Ethiopia, much to the dismay of his mother. After sufficient dust was kicked up, her foundation denied the whole brouhaha. Early last year, she joined forces with Island Records honcho Chris Blackwell to block Bob’s musical director and bass player Aston “Familyman” Barrett’s £60million lawsuit for unpaid royalties. Bob paid his band 50% of all his recording royalties, but Rita discontinued this practice after Bob died. Although Familyman just about built Bob’s in-house studio in Kingston and, together with his deceased brother Carlton, co-wrote and co-produced several of his songs, Rita and Blackwell swore in a British high court that “the Barrett Brothers were never Wailers, they were session men”, despite contracts to the contrary. Familyman has been reduced to a troubadour playing in hole-in-the-wall clubs with an incarnation of the Wailers band, which includes several members from Bob’s days. He quipped pithily: “She might have the [Marley] name, but she doesn’t have his philosophy.” According to Forbes magazine, Bob Marley’s estate brought in more than $7million last year. This was the first time since his death that the figure spiralled, which would give cause for Rita’s rigorous fund-raising in South Africa. This would probably also explain the monstrosity that is the 16-suite Marley Resort and Spa in Nassau, Bahamas, where the affluent can sweat their troubles away and have an irie sleep in suites named after Bob’s songs: Three Little Birds, Natural Mystic, Sun is Shining, Kinky Reggae and others. While it would be unfair to downplay her acts of generosity, however exaggerated -- putting children through school and helping develop infrastructure in communities such as Konkonuru in her adopted country, Ghana -- it is interesting to note that several people who have dealt with Rita on a business level abruptly severed their relationships with her because of her unreliability. We are talking from Jamaica to Africa here. Mega Star Limited, a local production company-cum-band that was approached by Rita to perform and provide music equipment for the Africa Unite concert in Ghana last year, is still bitter about its unpaid fee. As is a Jamaican PR company she asked to publicise and market a Marley family performance at an annual Jamaican festival a few years ago. Also, the public relations and publicity teams that represented Rita when she first announced the Africa Unite programme in South Africa last year have cut ties with her. PR company Dlamini Weil Communications will not explain why. Rita’s Africa Unite programme to celebrate her husband’s 62nd birthday has not been going ahead as planned. Concerts have been postponed until May, the month of Bob’s death. All is not lost for Mrs Marley, though, as Patrice Motsepe is understood to be interested in becoming a partner in the show. In the meantime, she will keep launching her book at every turn and business in the Bahamas will probably boom. Bob’s revolutionary zeal, refusing to be silenced, will chant, in an increasingly haunting timbre: “Soon we’ll find out who is the real revolutionaries, ’cause I don’t want my people to be tricked by mercenaries.”