|
Back to Index
Censorship: Trials and tribulations of an artist
Owen
Maseko, OSISA
June 30, 2011
Download
this document
- Acrobat
PDF version (1.56MB)
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader
on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking
here.
http://www.osisa.org/openspace/zimbabwe/censorship-trials-and-tribulations-artist
My exhibition,
Sibathontisele, opened on 25th March 2010. The next day it was banned
and I was arrested. The Inclusive
Government had been in power for just over a year.
Sibathontisele
profiled the massacre of Ndebele people by the government-sponsored
Fifth Brigade from 1983 until the signing of the Unity Accord in
1987. The bloody campaign was known as Gukurahundi ‘the rain
that washes away the chaff' in Shona and was justified by the government
as an attempt to control dissidents in Matabeleland. However, since
an estimated 20,000 people were killed in Matabeleland and the Midlands
during this period and numerous other atrocities were committed,
there is strong evidence to suggest that this was also a targeted
attack on supporters of Joshua Nkomo's opposition party, ZAPU.
Sibathontisele,
which means ‘we drip on them' in Ndebele and refers
to one of the most notorious torture techniques employed by the
Fifth Brigade dripping hot, melted plastic on victims, sought to
expose the atrocities, the sufferings and the legacy of Gukurahundi
and so support healing and reconciliation.
Gukurahundi
had not been publicly discussed since the signing of the Unity Accord
but the signing of the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) in 2008 promised a new era of freedom
after decades of restrictions. The GPA also sought to initiate a
process of national healing, following the widespread violence
during the 2008 elections as well as earlier human rights abuses.
With the GPA's commitment to greater openness and the creation
of an Organ of National Healing, surely this was the right time
for art to address the long suppressed but still burning issue of
Gukurahundi?
But when my
exhibition opened, the authorities responded quickly. The show was
closed down the following day and I was arrested by Central Intelligence
Officers and detained for five nights in Bulawayo's Central
Police Station. I was eventually charged with publishing and communicating
false statements with the intention of inciting violence, which
carries a sentence of twenty years, and also with undermining the
authority of the President. With the vital support of Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights, I filed a pre-trial application for
a referral to the Constitutional Court arguing that my constitutional
rights to freedom of thought, freedom of conscience and freedom
of expression had been fundamentally violated by my arrest and subsequent
detention. The magistrate referred the case to the Supreme Court
for judgement and we are still waiting for a date to be set for
my case to be heard.
And Zimbabweans
are still waiting for an opportunity to honestly and openly debate
Gukurahundi and start the process of healing.
Download
full document
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
|
