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Zimbabwe: Democracy & the development of arts
Godwin Muzari, African Colours
February 26, 2010

Zimbabwe has gone through critical political transformations over the past three decades. The summit of the political wave was the attainment of independence from British rule in 1980 while the formation of the government of national unity in 2009 was another zenith on the political front.

These and many other changes have inevitably had ripple effects on various sectors of the society. They have differently impacted on the social, economic and religious faces of the country. It is well known that some of the political policies in this era have left huge scars of economic meltdown, social unrest and great tension among the general populace.

Political leaders flouted democratic principles that they claim to uphold and consciously cast human rights and the rule of law to shambles. Not spared in this complex chaos web was the development of arts.

The arts have greatly suffered under the various political phases in Zimbabwe. Artists have endured arrest and torture while some of their products were crashed and burnt because they did not tally with prescribed political notions. Plays, films and songs were unconditionally censored or banned because they went against the expectations of the ‘system'.

In a democracy, we talk of the rule of law, upholding human rights and promoting freedom of expression and association among other basics. Rightfully, freedom of expression is enshrined in Section 20 of the Zimbabwean constitution.

But artists have not been free to express themselves. They are required to submit their film and play scripts to the censorship board before they can go for shows. They are certain to rub shoulders with state security operatives at the shows while some have been trailed by unknown stalkers even during social interactions. They have had their songs banned from the country's sole broadcaster, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, because the lyrics ruffled furthers of the political elites and went against the politically tilted corporation policy. Artists' voices have been silenced and information suppressed because these artists have ‘danced out of tune'.

In 1996 Ingrid Sinclair and Simon Bright faced serious threats for their ‘controversial' film titled Flame, which exposed some untold truths of the country's liberation war. It showed the trauma that some female freedom fighters went through at the hands of their male counterparts and an association of former freedom fighters took up against the filmmakers barraging them with various threats.

Flame was almost banned and its success in Zimbabwe was very minimal. But the film was a great production that won international recognition.

Another artist who has had incessant brush with the security forces is renowned playwright Cont Mlhanga who has had some of his plays banned on political grounds. Although he has refused to be silenced, the artist says he always feels his security is on the rope.

Super Patriots and Morons was a spectacular politically charged play from Rooftop Promotions but it was banned in 2003.

Chimurenga musician Thomas Mapfumo is now living in exile in the United States after his album Chimurenga Explosion pricked sensitive political soft spots and triggered venom from the powers that be. Some musicians that have suffered a similar fate include Leonard Zhakata, Raymond Majongwe and Hosiah Chipanga.

Even the formation of the government of national unity which is a fusion of different political parties did not help matters because Chipanga's album Hero Shoko was banned from airplay in 2009 for its anti-Zanu PF lyrics.

Many poets and authors have also faced this dilemma. Some of the artists have tried to take legal action but to no avail. They have been denied their freedom of expression and there is no justice to rescue them. So, where is democracy when the arts have been forced to hopelessly wander in the political jungle?

*Godwin Muzari is the Arts and Entertainment Editor for The Standard newspaper published in Harare, Zimbabwe.

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