Back to Index

Zimbabwe police storm theatre to stop controversial play
NewZimbabwe.com
June 15, 2007

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/arts12.16544.html

RIOT police on Wednesday night stormed Bulawayo's Amphitheatre and stopped the staging of a political satire called The Good President that is produced by Amakhosi Theatre's Cont Mhlanga.

Mhlanga has since filed an urgent High Court order compelling police to allow the play to go on until Saturday as scheduled.

About two hundred people, including outspoken Roman Catholic Archbishop, Pius Ncube, who had braved the chilly night to watch the play were dispersed without any scuffle although some openly expressed their displeasure.

The play, written by Qhubani Dube, a member of a pressure group called Ibhetshu Likazulu, premiered in Harare last month without incident.

Mhlanga, who directed and produced the movie, was led away by three officers, before theatre goers were told to disperse.

The 50-minute play, which was received with negative publicity by the government media, revolves around a grandmother (gogo) played by Thembekile Ngwabi, and her grandson comparing the prevailing political and economic situation in the country with what most Zimbabweans expected during the war of liberation.

Mhlanga is not new to controversy since penning the award winning play, Workshop Negative, in the late 80s. Last year he courted the authorities' wrath when he was arrested for mobilising artistes to stage plays for the commemoration of the first anniversary of Operation Murambatsvina, the code name of a government blitz on illegal housing which the United Nations says left close to a million people homeless.

This was after he wrote and directed another controversial play, Pregnant With Emotion.

It could not be established last night when the High Court would hear Mhlanga's case on The Good President.

Archbishop Ncube said he was angered by the cancellation.

He said: "This is further evidence of the repressive capacity of a bullying government that does not tolerate opposing views."

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP