The artists, Silvanos Mudzvova and Anthony Tongani, appeared before
magistrate Gloria Takundwa on Thursday in the first known trail of artists
in post-independence Zimbabwe for breaching the colonial era Censorship and
Entertainment Control Act (1967).
The artists are accused of performing unlawfully the satire The Final Push –
depicting Zimbabwe’s worsening political crisis – without approval of the
state censorship board as required by law.
The trial opened with three state witnesses – two of the arresting police
officers and the secretary to the Censorship Board – giving testimonies led
by the state prosecution team.
The court heard that the artists had last year applied for approval to stage
the satire from the Censorship Board – a department in the Ministry of Home
Affairs – who refused to grant the artists a certificate authorising the
performance.
Under cross examination by the defence council led by Harare lawyer Philip
Nyakutombwa, the secretary to the Censorship Board, Isaac Chiranganyika,
told the court that the accused pair had acted outside the law by performing
the satire without state authority.
Chiranganyika told the court: “So many plays are denied the authority to
perform by my board for so many different reasons and there was nothing
strange about the prohibition of The Final Push.”
Chiranganyika would not furnish the court the reasons for denying the
artists permission to perform the play whose title is taken from the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party’s failed protest march
in 2003 against President Robert Mugabe’s style of rule.
The protest failed after Mugabe poured armed soldiers onto the streets to
prevent opposition supporters from taking to the streets.
The defence lawyer claimed in court that Chiranganyika had in fact verbally
approved the play on behalf of the Censorship Board and also pointed out
that the fact that the artists had made numerous attempts to seek the board’
s permission to stage the performance showed they had conducted themselves
with the expected diligence.
The defence immediately applied for discharge of the artists arguing that
there was no prima facie case against them.
The magistrate postponed the matter to June 10 when she will make a ruling
on the defence application for discharge. – ZimOnline
Post published in: News