Creative arts stifled

In Zimbabwe, artists are stifled by being completely ignored. This is the national fate of our creative arts. Writers, musicians, painters, sculptors are all in the same boat. They are smashed against the brick wall of our totalitarian state. The liberation war and subsequent independence revolution achieved nothing for our culture because it achieved nothing for our freedom.

Dambudzo Marechera directly warned: When politicians talk about culture, one had better pack ones rucksack and run, because it means the beginning of unofficial censorship.

It shows a fundamental misunderstanding of artistic creation when an artist is forced to produce a specified output in a specified time. The vein of creation or inspiration is soon exhausted under such duress. And that is obvious. What is not so obvious is that the laws of supply and demand in art are very different from those in economics.

It is evident that artistic practice in Zimbabwe has been affected by our political history and development. Apart from rendering future influences in creative style and expression through their creations, what else have the older artists done to nurture the next promising generation of Zimbabwean artists? Apart from the Budding Writers Association of Zimbabwe (BWAZ) and Zimbabwe Women Writers (ZWW), what happened/is happening to the Zimbabwe Union of Musicians (ZUM), Zimbabwe Theatre Practitioners Forum (obviously I am making this up, but it stresses the point that the local artistic community is fragmented when it needs to be a united big family).

The interaction between the established artists and the younger artists has been minimal to an extent. It seems there are more fractures and splinters – mazvake mazvake and less unity among the artistic community in Zimbabwe. Art, in its different but rich forms, is a window into a people’s way of life and when it is shut, the spirit of a people is smothered. Artists of Zimbabwe should unite and work for their common good! TINASHE MUSHAKAVANHU, by e-mail

Good for a laugh

EDITOR – You’ve got to hand it to the man who managed to create the Zimbabwe Ruins in modern times – Robert Mugabe. He’s always good for a laugh as our top cartoonists frequently demonstrate.

He is reported to have described America’s most senior diplomat on Africa, John Carson, as an “idiot”.

Did Uncle Bob become confused when he looked into his mirror? Your latest Editorial says it all. If this kind of idiocy continues, there may well be reason to bring on the men in white coats. IVOR DAVIS, by e-mail

Swords not ploughshares

EDITOR – If yesterday I fought you as an enemy, today you have become a friend and ally with the same national interest, loyalty, rights and duties as myself. If yesterday you hated me, today, you cannot avoid the love that binds you to me and me to you.

The above quote from President Mugabes 1980 speech has been cited several times, but it is not uninteresting to repeat. Firstly, it is a well-crafted masterpiece. It naturally forced many, including his former white enemies (who have remained his enemies) to make positive, immature and erroneous conclusions about his character. Ray Welenksy, the former Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, for example, told Time Magazine in November 1980: Mugabe is the ablest black African leader I have ever seen.

Secondly, to the extent the speech is loaded with catchy, invigorating assurances, it gave the Prime Minister qualities and attitudes he has never shown: forgiveness and reconciliation. In fact, it achieved an intentional or unintentional diplomatic sensation, resulting to a total ignorance of Zimbabwean affairs. It is not surprising the 20 000 people slain in Matebelelands Gukurahundi, albeit started three years after this historic speech, received scant international attention.

Yet the Prime Minister remained a sparkling example African leadership and a peacemaker. He was given a peace-building mission in Mozambique, which he successfully accomplished. It is curious how he committed to creating peace in Mozambique when his Fifth Brigade was at the zenith of Matebeleland massacres, the genesis of beatings, torture, killings and harassment we are still experiencing today. The consequent 1987 Unity Accord echoed the 1980 reconciliation promises. But the re-emergence of ZAPU shows some of its fallacies.

Enter GNU! Most are optimistic about this initiative. It has potential for rebuilding the economy and above all, a foundation for peace and reconciliation. However, our President is adamant of turning his swords into ploughshares. You wouldnt speak to an idiot of that nature, he says of Johnnie Carson, an American diplomat he recently met in Libya. Probably Carson failed to show him the Victorian respect he covets, but describing him as idiot is too much. It is offensive and an insult to Carsons acumen. This is not the first time he has lashed toxic messages for the West. Obscenities, including some for the opposition, have been part of Mugabes Chimurenganization episode.

However, a lot of his supporters, including Zanu (PF) Womens League, love it. They ululate in praise of his venomous tongue. Some dance. And others have promised to strip for him! True: the effects of colonisation and neo-colonialism are partly responsible for our poverty, but rebuking whites, which Mugabe did since 2000, would not end our miseries. Just like Zanu (PF) in GNU, the West is a problem, but also part of the solution to our crises. Its painful the President knows turning swords into ploughshares is necessary and beneficial for the country. Yet he has deliberately sharpened and re-sharpened them to distort rebuilding processes. ARKMORE KORI, by e-mail

GNU neglects state Universities

EDITOR – It is with great concern that I am writing this letter to tell the whole world about the challenges bedevilling our state universities.

While tremendous progress has been realised in areas of the health sector, it is worrisome that the tertiary sector has been left idle. While I would like to believe that the Harare administration has been struggling to attract donors to finance the struggling economy, it is disheartening to note that such an integral arm of the economic revival has been swept under the carpet.

Very little is being said about the tertiary sector, as if everything is OK. The alarming number of people who are leaving their programmes without finishing is an insult to a country that boasts an almost 100 per cent literacy rate.

In the print and electronic media we have only heard Minister Coltart elaborating on the problems affecting the education sector, but Minister Mudenge has been mum on the issue. He has misled the nation on the issue of cadetship.

The fees being charged are exorbitant. Zimbabwe is one of the countries with the worst employment rate in the world. Taking into account the fact that most people at tertiary

level finance themselves, it is ironic that universities demand such unrealistic fees. I appeal to the right honourable PM together with his two partners in the inclusive government to save the ailing tertiary sector from sudden death. – MACDONALD CHIGOVA, Bindura

We are not thugs

EDITOR – The recent pronouncement by the beleaguered ZINASU President, Clever Bere, that students who gathered for the 2009 peoples constitutional convention last week were thugs, is ridiculous. It is a shocking statement and therefore an insult to the generality of students.

How can he call us, bona fide students, who gathered to give our input in the constitutional reform process, thugs? If there was anyone who deserved to be called a thug, it would be the five boys sent into the HICC who tried to disturb the smooth flow of discussions.

We wish to make it clear that we are not interested in the personal politicking and infighting that has characterized the running of our union. What we all aspire to is the realization of our hard fought constitution. We cannot continue to cry foul that were not included in the constitutional commission, when in fact we can contribute meaningfully in the drafting of the content.

If you were not invited, as you claim, what were you doing at the HICC? History will judge you, Bere, for going astray at this point when you should be providing guidance and leadership to the students movement.

Shame on you for accepting 30 pieces of silver from Takura Zhangazha. He was a former student leader, who has lost his respect and integrity by funding chaos and disorder in the union.

Let it be known that our engagement with the current process is premised on the basis that we want to push for the enforcement of education as a basic right. We are also fighting for the repeal of repressive ordinances and pieces of legislation and the respect of other fundamental human rights.

The ordinary students will not listen to people that have failed us on several occasions. We have lost faith in your leadership.

Bere, you should go back to college and rejoin students at NUST. I hear that your suspension from college is over, you should pack your books and continue with your studies and stop acting like the NCA Youth Chair. Many people have taken the route you are taking right now and they were used and dumped by MADHUKU.

Fore warned is fore armed. FATSO, Gweru

AU violation embarrassing

EDITOR – The recent AU’s violation of the Rome Statute, which gave birth and legal force to the International Criminal Court (ICC), is disturbing and embarrassing.

The African leaders, popularly known as ‘brothers,’ rejected the warrant of arrest of the Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, who is one of the most criminal leaders of the time. This makes the continent the laughing stock of the world. What is wrong with Africa? The most ruthless dictators are found in Africa.

Omar al-Bashir committed crimes against humanity. His contribution to the Sudanese genocide is public knowledge. I congratulate the government of Botswana for distancing itself from this sham. I encourage President Khama to boycott AU gatherings because he must not mix and mingle with dictators. The rightful members of this club of dictators (AU) are President Mugabe, King Mswati and Colonel Gadhaffi, to mention a few.

Botswana and other genuine African leaders must hand over Al-Bashir to the ICC if he passes through their territory. AU is promoting impunity to leaders who have committed genocide. This sets a very dangerous precedence for the African continent. The other dangerous example that has become the trend of African politics is power-sharing agreements after rigged elections. Africa must not ratify democracy and human rights treaties if it knows that it is a dictatorial continent.

God bless Africa. – CHARLES, UZ