President Removed From The Court Roll

posted 16 June 2007

 

After sitting in the High Court Chambers for about an hour over the matter, Justice Francis Bere, gave the two lawyers ten minutes to go out and discuss the matter before bringing to him what they cannot agree on. After some fifteen minutes or so the lawyers called the two parties in and informed us of their common position; to remove the matter from the roll and discuss the issues and come to an agreement with the police over the banning of the play in a out of court settlement.

 

What was being sited by the police now was the lines of the script that they say are not only contravening sections of POSA (Public Order and Security Act,) but also the sections of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act by ‘undermining the authority of the President (what ever that means in arts) according to the laws of Zimbabwe. For them it was not just about stopping a play from taking place at a theater but also about questioning the script.

 

What does the out of court settlement with the police mean to me as a playwright? It means that I have to take my script of The Good President to the Police Officer Commanding Bulawayo District and allow him to edit and censor it for me before he can lift the ban and allow the play to run in Bulawayo. The big question for me is; Do I want to do that?

 

Even if I want to, just picture this scenario; The first scene begins with the Officer Commanding’s riot police chasing after street protesters who have run into the theater and joined the audience. The riot police with their usual bad language demand permission letters under POSA and disperse the crowd at the theater. This is what his officers did at Bulawayo Theater on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. He will ask me to delete this scene for sure to protect his police force image.

 

The second scene takes place at the police station where the police officers have caught one of the protesters who happen to be an elected leader of the opposition and are beating the days of life out of his head. This is what happened in Harare March 2007. Again he will ask me to remove this scene or change it to say that they offered him water at the station while they questioned him.

 

Third scene is about the president celebrating and defending state violence on TV. This happened in March 2007 and is what inspired me to write the play The Good President. The Officer Commanding will say this undermines the authority of the president (what ever that means in arts) and must be deleted.

 

Forth scene, are historical facts that the grand mother gives to his grand son about how and why his father and other villagers where shot by soldiers and tells him the president was the commander in chief of that army and the killings were tribal and politically motivated. The Officer Commanding will ask me to delete this scene or even suggest that I give other causes of death as this undermines the authority of the president (what ever that means in art) so that they may not prosecute me under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act

 

Given the above situations, it is clear that this is a negotiation that I cannot win. The police ban will have to stay banishing The Good President into the drawer. I have two more options to consider since I want the play to play as it has been written. To ignore the ban and present the play at other venues and through DVDs and a published script. How ever if I take this route the Officer Commanding will move a step higher, arrest and get me prosecuted (if he can get his hands on me) for undermining the authority of the president. (what ever that means in arts) 

 

The final option would be to water down the script and make the script fictitious, taking place in some fictitious country out of this world. The big question once more, is do I want to do that? In my belief and conviction The Good President is ‘Protest Theater’ and I want it to remain like that. I don’t want to turn it to some flowery ‘Poetic Theater’ In my opinion there is nothing flowery and poetic about the current situation the country is in. There is nothing flowery and poetic about a corrupt political leadership that celebrates state violence. There is nothing flowery and poetic about millions of people in the country who cannot afford to put a single decent meal on the table for their families on a daily bases. There is nothing poetic and flowery about an economy whose inflation is at 5000. There is nothing poetic and flowery about living in a country whose governing leaders are under travel sanctions. There is nothing flowery and poetic about living in a country where you send your child to school to find the head of a school with half their staff have left to work in another country. The situation in the country is desperate for the majority of the population and it demands some urgent action by all concerned.

 

In my sector, the culture sector, in performing arts, the current situation in the country demands not poetic theater, not romantic theater, but PROTEST THEATER. It is for this reason that I find myself in a dilemma if I have to go and negotiate for the lifting of the ban on the play with the Police Officer Commanding. I how ever have learnt one clear lesson, that there is no room to practice the art of protest theater in our democratic Zimbabwe. 

 

Before I can make a decision on what to do, the producer and myself will next week sit with the legal representative Kucaca Phulu and visit all the scenes and legally inform my self about what lines and content of my script possibly contravenes which sections of POSA and the Criminal Law. Only after the exercise will I be in a position to make an informed decision on what to do next. I hope The Zimbabwe Human Rights Lawyers will continue to support us on this.

 

For all of you Bulawayo audiences who wanted to see the play and could not, we will reschedule the Bulawayo performances, but it can only be the last week of September. This is because the two actors in The Good President Thembi Ngwabi and Mandla Moyo are leaving for United States, California on the 29^th of June where they are performing in one of my political theater plays The Members. This play is part of the CSU Summer Arts program where it will be adapted and filmed for TV and will be broadcast in two Channels till the 14^th of July. The Members which I wrote 14 years ago had the original cast of the late Makey Tickeys, Alois Moyo Mandla Moyo, and Thembi Ngwabi. It has been recast for CSU Summer Arts with professional American actors. It is produced by Don Priest and Howard Ritter.

 

 Mandla Moyo then travels to Sweden to join Daves Guzha and Rooftop in the Swedish tour of the play Super Patriots and Morons. Thembi Ngwabi remains in the US to run her one woman play The Chosen One. She will be back in the country the first week of August while Mandla will be back in Zimbabwe mid September. 

 

The play must play in Bulawayo and I will make sure the biggest changes in the script will be comas and full stops. Thank you to all of you who have continued to send us massages of encouragement and support. Its good to know that we are not alone in the defense of artistic freedom and freedom of expression.

 

Cont Mhlanga

The Writer/Director

The Good President

June 16, 2007

 

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Police Ban The Good President

 

The police, Inspector Mhaka and his Riot Police Unit commander arrived at the Bulawayo Theater the second time on Thursday, this time with a different purpose than on Wednesday. They had come to ban the play from ever running in Bulawayo.

 

‘We are here to tell you for the first and last time that this gathering for the purposes of watching this play is not allowed by the Officer Commanding Bulawayo District. Not today or any other day.’ the riot police unit commander explained.

 

It is how ever not fair calling them the riot police unit. There was no riot taking place at the theater when the unit arrived, but just 120 people who had bought tickets for the 5:30pm show enjoying the play.

 

Its only correct to call them the (Zimbabwe Public Beating Police Unit). The commander of the unit described his unit himself  to us and one of Bulawayo’s top Human Rights Lawyers Kucaca Phulu who is representing the production at the High Court, ‘We are not here to read documents or any court papers from any one. We are here to beat all of you up’ he explained. ‘Even if you come with what ever court order tomorrow, we are not going to read, listen or talk to any one. We will just arrive here and quietly get down to our job and beat up every one’  

 

They had arrived about three quarters into the play in a no joking mood with young men who were etching to land their button sticks and black boots on every one in the theater and the commander had given every body five minutes to get out of the theater or they would be beaten severely for having ever come to the theater.

 

The Producer of the play Daves Gusha stepped on stage and interrupted the play and made the announcements. The audience fled out of the theater in panic. It was as if the theater had caught fire. We thank God and our Ancestors that no one was hurt and we can only apologize to our valued audiences for what happened and more so to those who had bought the 7 30pm tickets and came for this evening show to find the theater deserted.

 

The official position about The Good President is that it remains banned by the Police Officer Commanding Bulawayo Central with strong possibilities that this ban will be made effective in all districts across the country by the respective police district commanders.

 

Our only hope is with the High Court  before Justice Francis Bere this Friday afternoon.

 

I give special thanks to Zimbabwe Layers for Human Rights acting director Irene Petras who moved swiftly on Wednesday evening when the play was first closed down to support us with their network representative in Bulawayo Kucaca Phulu, his student on attachment Kholwani Ngwenya and Phulu’s secretary for working over drive, missing tea and lunch breaks to bring the matter before the High Court. We salute your commitment.

Thank you to all of you who have forwarded our email updates on the situation to where ever and to who ever has an interest on the current situation in Zimbabwe as we may not know every one. Political theater is for raising political awareness on particular political issues, conditions and situations in a given country at a given time. Therefore thank you for being part of this chain, raising this awareness across the world.

 

Many thanks go to the two actors in the play Gogo and Mzukulu, plus the crew, you knew the Zimbabwe Public Beating Police Unit could storm into the theater any minute and yet you got onto the stage and did your jobs until they arrived to do what they had to do.

 

To the audience who came to the show, there can never be a performance with no audience, we say Bravo!

 

How ever all having been said, the question that I ask in the play The Good President still begs for an answer; ‘How does a President who during his term has committed atrocities, genocide, war crimes, human rights violations and has personally admitted it in some of his public speeches, calling his act ‘the unfortunate time when he was crazy or did he say the time of madness’ remain a Good President and be allowed to be president of a country for one more day by any normal thinking patriotic Zimbabwean, (especially those in the ZANU PF Central Committee as the majority who sit in it fought to bring about justice and freedom for many years in this country), the SADC and AU Presidents and other presidents of the world?  What guarantee does the population of this country and the rest of Africa have that the same sitting President may not one day wake up crazy one more time and do something worse to the Nation? And how about justice to the affected?

 

My question begs for an answer? Or may be not necessarily as mine is just a play that reflects on the successful political profession of our current sitting President?

 

I will keep you posted.

 

Cont Mhlanga

Writer/Director

The Good President

 

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The Play Must Play

posted 13 June 2007

After investing so much time and resources in promoting and marketing The Good President in Bulawayo for this week’s run, 13^th to the 16^th of June at the Bulawayo Theater, the play will after all not run because the police superiors in the Bulawayo Province have decided that it is not a play but a political gathering.

               

The Inspector who came to the Bulawayo Theater could only say to us he was sent by his superiors to shut down the show because it was a political gathering and as such, the organizers of such a gathering must apply for permition from the Officer Commanding to put up such a gathering.

 

The Producer, Daves Guzha, the MC Bhekilizwe Ndlovu and the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe provincial manager Martin Dube and myself tried our best to explain to the Inspector that this was not a political gathering but was a political play and this is why people were buying tickets to watch the play, as no one would buy a ticket to attend a political gathering. We did not succeed.

 

The Inspector then invited me to their police car and drove me to Central Police Station. I thought we where going to meet the police boss who knew the difference between a political gathering and a political play, and yes I was right. I met a police commander who knew his job and knew the difference between the two.

 

‘Cont Mhlanga your play will not play. It has been decided that your play must not play and it’s final, so it will not play’, he said. ‘If you want your play to play Cont Mhlanga, write to the Officer Commanding and ask permission for your play to play.’ He instructed his junior to give me the address and the building to which to deliver my application.

 

I reminded the police boss that their was no law that required us to do that, and after all this same play had run in Harare with no such a requirement from any one up there.

 

‘Cont Mhlanga, this is not Harare. This is Bulawayo. What plays in Harare Cont Mhlanga will not necessarily play in Bulawayo. Your play can even go and play in Baghdad, it does not matter. But when it comes to play in Bulawayo, then it’s another story. Every security situation is decided differently at District level. Here in my district, we have decided that your play will not play Cont Mhlanga. Inspector go with Cont Mhlanga and tell his audience that his play will not play, they should go home.’ and he walked out of the office.

 

 At this point the MC Bhekilizwe Ndlovu and the National Arts council manager had followed me to the station.   

 

By the time we got back to the Bulawayo Theater, the police Inspector had called over thirty heavily armed riot police. The Inspector addressed the audience and told them that the gathering was illegal and that they should go home. He still did not make the difference between the two, a political play and a political gathering.

 

As the audience left, the police Inspector brought with him the riot police commander and introduced him to me.

    ‘I give you and your crew 15munites to get out of this place’.

 

When I explained to him that we needed more time to strike down our rig, he responded,

‘We do not have the whole night to drive you out of here. Tell your crew that they have now thirteen minutes left.’

 

As we walked out of the Theater ten or so minutes later, about five reporters waited to get a comment from me and the police Inspector.

‘Who are these people still here?’ he asked softly.

I told him it was the production crew loading the mini bus and those stepping forward to us where reporters.

He did not like the word reporter. All of a sudden his voice turned aggressive. It went loud. ‘My instruction is to move you out of this area as fast as you can and I can do that very badly,’ he bellowed.’

 

No one told anyone that it was time to move and move away very fast. This was a big blow to Amakhosi, Rooftop, to theater and to the audiences.

 

Theater fans bought the tickets and did not see the play. We have invested heavily on the four day run and we can’t run. It is for these two reasons that we can not give up on the run.

 

The Play Must Play. It must play not in Baghdad as the police boss remarked. It will play in Bulawayo and in Matabeleland because it is where it originates and the national issues discussed in The Good President have the deepest cut in this region.

 

Dear audiences we will keep you posted. We have not cancelled the run yet.

 

Cont Mhlanga

Writer/Director

The Good President

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

 

WE HAVE BEEN CENSORED!! And I Don’t Like It!

 

The play The Good President will be showing at the Bulawayo Theatre from the 13^th to the 16^th of June. On Wednesday to Friday  5.30 pm and 7.30 pm whilst on Saturday the play will be showing at 2: 00 pm, 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm. It is 50min long and is followed with a discussion. The writer Cont Mhlanga is the moderator and takes questions from the audience about the play as well.

 

The team has been going through a process of marketing the play, but we have been censored at the state controlled media and I don’t like it!

 

 Earlier, this week, we intended to place an advertisement in the Chronicle, Sunday News and Umthunywa in Bulawayo, all brands of Zimpapers. Our advert was refused unless I agreed that it be censored. The same advert ran uncensored in the private media because there was nothing worth censoring in the first place. Removed where the seven dialogue lines extracted from the script. And I don’t like it!

 

 I welcome to be edited, but I don’t want to be censored, especially on some funny grounds that the policy of the public media in Zimbabwe is to protect the President. Yes the advert was censored on grounds that they are PROTECTING THE PRESIDENT. And I don’t like It.

 

On one hand I respect the right of the media house to censor advert content, but I how ever don’t like the reason given for doing that. Yes I don’t like it!

 

How are my seven lines in my script harmful to the President? Does this qualify my conclusion then that the President does not know what the majority of us are saying about the current situation we are in because some one is protecting him to hear and listed to what we have to say? When he speaks down to us, the same papers don’t protect us to listen to what he has to say? When we speak back to him through the same paper it protects him to listen to us. I don’t like It!

 

Could this be the reason why 27 years after independence the country has no private daily papers, no private radio channels, no private TV channels? To protect the President from listening to us! I don’t like It! 

 

How does a public listed company in the stock exchange become a state controlled company whose policy is not to protect national interests but just to protect the President? I don’t like It.

 

Those who lived   during the days of the Rhodesian Front will be instantly reminded of the days when there was heavy censorship of any news to do with the war. The editors ended up leaving the spaces blank to show that their stories had been censored. It is ironical that the same people who fought against such practices are perpetrating the same offences. I don’t like It!

 

Theatre is a means of expressing people’s opinions about government policies and it is surely very strange to be censored for expressing one’s opinions whilst the constitution is always for freedom of expression. The right to freedom of expression can only be taken away if it infringes on other people’s rights. I would like to maintain that telling the head of State, how one feels about governance issues can never be infringing on his rights. All things being equal a President is elected by the people hence he should be accountable to the people. If a President is afraid of people’s opinions, to the point that he has to be protected by the public media and even by making sure that there is no private electronic media in the country that one leads, then either the people censoring on behalf of the President have a problem or the President has a problem and for me when my country of birth is run by people who have problems then I don’t like It!

 

 How are public opinions supposed to get to the President if the public media censors the people. Where will the public sphere take place? Where will we Zimbabweans talk?

 

The Government has spun a great web of fear, very worrying as national elections are around the corner. As we have been distributing flyers all over the city of Bulawayo, the top question that came from the public was, if we come and watched the play, will we not be beaten by the police in the auditorium? In one hotel at the city center we got several calls from the staff the following day that we should come and remove our flyers as state security agents where asking too many questions or else they would get beaten up. This degree of public fear is not good for any government record in the world.

 

The Government has presented itself to the people as being capable of great state violence if people express their opinions over governance issues.

 

I Don’t Like It!!

 

If you are in Bulawayo don’t be afraid. Come and watch the play. If you are far from Bulawayo please inform some one you know, about The Good President. Tickets are only Z$50 000 and Z$25 000. School kids Z$15 000

 

Cont Mhlanga

Writer/Director

The Good President

 

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The Good President in Bulawayo

 

Rooftop Promotions of Harare and Amakhosi Theater of Bulawayo brings the play, The Good President written and directed by Cont Mhlanga and Produced by Daves Guzha to the City of Kings and Queens. The play will be shown at the Bulawayo Theatre on the 11 and the 12th of May 2007, after a very successful run from the 12th to the 20th of April at Theater in the Park in Harare.  There will be 5.30pm and 7.30 pm performances on the two days.

                          

The play’s world premiere at the capital attracted a heavy presence of state security officers and the government media in Zimbabwe has said that the play is anti- establishment, tribal and dangerous as it touches on the Matabeleland massacres by the President in his continuing era of ruling Zimbabwe.

 

 The play has generated huge public debate.

‘In sometimes heated and emotional discussions which took place after every performance, the question that always came to me is; How safe are you after writing such a play? This made me think deeply about what this says about the Zimbabwe we live in today?’  said Cont Mhlanga sharing his experience of the discussions. Why this question in a free and democratic Zimbabwe going by the judgment of the state controlled media?

 

The play is about a rural grandmother Gogo, whose sons where wiped out during the Matabeleland massacres, who has come to the city for an eye treatment and commits suicide because her grandson refuses to give her bus fare to go back to the village and vote back the ruling President as this is the constituency where she is registered to vote.

 

Its now for those in Bulawayo to sample the work, discuss it and buy a DVD and script of the play for what ever reason.

Tickets are Z$15 000. For bookings and information call Marry at the Bulawayo Theater on 09-65393(mornings only)and Sihle Nyathi on 011 504 120

 

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AMAKHOSI TO STAGE PLAYS AT HIFA

 

By Sihle Nyathi………posted 05/06/07

 

Amakhosi is set to stage a number of productions for the Harare International Festival of the Arts. The play Lysistrata which was produced last year will be performed at this year’s HIFA.

 

The play which was directed by Ian Beddowes and produced by Styx Mhlanga is an adaptation of a play by Greek writer, Aristophanes written in 410BC. The play is primarily about women’s sexuality and how they use their sex to manipulate men.

 

The Director, Ian Beddowes says the play makes for interesting viewing. It is quite different from the protest theatre that Zimbabweans are famous. It is the kind of play that those who are in need of a good laugh will definitely enjoy.

 

HIFA has also commissioned, Amakhosi Theatre to produce a play entitled no mo 4 play written by Mandisi Gobodi. The play came from last year’s Hifa were a writer’s workshop was held and the festival chose five scripts from a group of writers who attended the writer’s workshop.

 

The play is a political satire that takes place in a company’s board room where the actors have to take in a boardroom struggle because the company is undergoing economic woes. The play has a white accountant, Shona manager and a Ndebele office worker.

 

‘The play is workshoped, that is it being developed during the rehearsals and that is the reason the writer is involved in the rehearsals. It is basically a play in the making. The cast is mature and exciting. It involves the likes of Memory Kumbota, Thulani Mbambo and Shawn Thomas, said Mhlanga.

 

‘It is a nice, funny comedy that is definitely worth watching. The play is one of Mandisi’s Trademarks, he is a writer who wants to go where no one has gone before, and he likes to walk on forbidden ground.

 

In a related event, Raisedon Baya is rehearsing at Amakhosi TSCC, a play that will be perfomed at HIFA.The play is titled Invisible prison and it deals with the fact that people are a prisoner of many circumstances such as AIDS, situations and poverty. The play that does not aim to profer solutions but he works on the belief that people should watch the play and be liberated by their own consciousness. The play however does show the many windows that some of the people use to ameliorate themselves from the predicaments that they find themselves in.

 

 

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Press Release

 

I am Inspired

 For immediate release

 

From Cont Mhlanga

 

Friday, March 30, 2007

 

I like writing political satires but I have not had any inspiration to write one for the past six years as nothing inspire ring was happening in Zimbabwean politics to stimulate my creativity. The last play I wrote in 2000 was the Attitudes. How ever the political events of the last two weeks have inspired me to write a political satire with the working title The Good President. In the past two weeks the media has been filled with images of elected MDC political leaders who have been beaten.

 

You just cannot beat up an elected leader of an opposition party or an elected legislator or any other leader for that matter in public. Let alone beat them up in the head and face. I am inspired.

 

The reason is simple that you are not beating and attacking the person, their ideas and actions but you will be beating and attacking the institution of leadership. Over centuries, Humanity the world over has perfected principles that protect the institution of Leadership. Should two leaders have differences, the first is to Dialogue the difference. The second is Imprisonment with life or dearth sentence. The third is Assassination or which ever first depending with the situation, circumstances and environment. And all this is done behind closed doors as a matter of leadership principle. It is such respect that true leaders give to each other.

 

 In this play I am inspired to tell those that are in leadership positions in Zimbabwe that they do not have any honor in the eyes of the young generations as they just stand and watch as the political events of the past two weeks unfold. In this play I am inspired to tell leaders of Africa that they cannot just stand and watch as the political events of the past two weeks unfold as Zimbabwe will never be in Europe, US or Asia, it will always be in Africa and impacts on the image of Africa. In this play I am inspired to tell all leaders of Zimbabwe and all leaders of Africa that the primary responsibility of each one of them is to protect the institution of leadership as it is the institution that has put them where they are. Not even the people or their supporters can put them where they are with ought the institution of leadership.- UBUKHOKHELI It is immoral in the African traditions to beat leaders in public as it brings the institution of leadership into disrepute. I am of the firm belief that

 

There is no vicious way of killing humanity

Than failing to respect and defend the institution of leadership as it is the brick and mortar that holds all the fabrics of society together.

 

It is not our way in Africa to beat a leader elected or otherwise and then go on to display the images for the young generation to enjoy them to the point of texting them to each other on their cell phones. This is so because it gives the impression that society can survive without leadership. This is a misnomer because lack of leadership would undoubtedly result in chaos. The leadership institution is not a human or scientific creation but a creation of Nature. Humanity has only been perfecting it for centuries from the mountains to the Palaces, to the streets to State houses.

 

Core National Values

Every nation has its core national values that guide it and it is the responsibility of the Government of the day to promote and protect these core national values. Integrity is one such core national value of Zimbabwe. The highest leadership institutions in Zimbabwe the ZANU-PF Politburo and ZANU-PF CENTRAL Committee remain silent and content when one of their own allows and publicly supports the arms of the State to attack the leadership institution in Zimbabwe and destroy its Integrity. I am inspired in this play to tell each one of the people who sit in these two highest leadership institutions in the country that when it gets this far where your comrade attacks the very institution that brought you where you are, know that its time for each one of you to lock yourselves in the bathroom and do serious soul searching and ask yourself which one comes first, you, your comrade or the future generations of Zimbabwe. If the answer is the future generations of Zimbabwe, second you, last your comrade then I am inspired in this play to tell you that get up, stand up and defend the Integrity of the leadership institution in your country. It has been put to serious disrepute like never before and it is only you who can rescue it. I am inspired as I revise my play over and over that I am blessed that I have never seen footage or pictures of the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe and the four Vice Presidents being publicly beaten, tortured, wounded and more so on their heads, yet I know and all know what horror they went through for many years in the hands of other leaders who did not subscribe to what they stood for. Yet those that sit in these highest institutions of leadership remain silent and unmoved. I am inspired.

 

One Million

 

Zimbabwe has one of the most important young people’s movements the 21^st February Movement. All through out January and February its youthful leader was on national TV persuading the nation that if only Zimbabweans could create one million Cde Mugabes. In this play I am inspired to tell all Zimbabweans that they must stop and think what would happen if they created one million Zimbabwean youths who do not respect and defend the institution of leadership in their own societies and communities? I am inspired.

 

Warning

 

I like writing political satires for the purposes of just commenting about life, society, predict and warn about the consequences of decisions and human behaviors that are made by professional politicians in our communities. In my plays I persuade my audiences to look and observe closely the politicians of this generation in a very light hearted way.

 

Those who have followed my work will remember that in the political satire Workshop Negative in 1986 I was warning the public that if we over worship and protect our political leaders while they lie to the people it will lead to sections of the Zimbabwean nation to pull to different directions and the country would result in bankruptcy where everyone will find it safe to run away from it. The prophecy has undoubtedly come to pass. Need I, talk of Citizen Mind which I wrote in 1988 where I was warning the government that the way they are ignoring the problem and concern of bringing bulk water to the people of Matabeleland because in their minds the people of that region belong to another country, was dangerous and careless and many years down the line will destroy the Unity Accord that had just been signed. The stand off between the residents of Bulawayo and ZINWA today brings testimony to the prediction made 19 years ago. Its not over yet, its just the beginning. In Stitsha in 1990 where the play was inspired by how the politicians where pushing away and ignoring the concerns of villagers who not only fought the liberation war but invested their small family incomes in it and were promised that the farm across the river would be allocated to them so that their village could access all the natural resources for their development to quality life, I warned that if these were not addressed, they will evoke bitter past memories of the liberation struggle and the country would see a disaster it has never experienced before. The nation has just seen the first episode of it. The second and more exiting one is coming some years down the line. This is for the simple reason that the Shabula and Banda villagers who inspired this play have still not been allocated Zikungwa 1 and 2 farms across the Gwayi River as I write. It has bee allocated to a party Chef who is not even from the district and I may be right to say not even from the Province. The second episode on land is coming Zimbabwe. Or yes its Coming!

 

This time in The Good President, I am inspired to make yet another prediction. The new trend of beating up political leaders in public for what ever reason and the attack on the integrity of the leadership institution signifies the coming of an end of the Zimbabwean Nationhood. If the members of the greatest and highest institutions of leadership in the country the Zanu-PF Politburo and Central Committee do not take any bold actions to defend the leadership intuition and the integrity of Zimbabwe in the next few weeks, I am inspired to tell them and my audience that by their inaction they will have condemned the future generations of Zimbabwe into the beginning of a new very costly walk and journey towards creating tribal little kingdoms, states and warlords. God bless them as they may not be around to enjoy watch the future generations pay for their inaction. I am inspired.

 

The play is about a rural grandmother Gogo who has come to the city for an eye treatment and commits suicide because her grandson refuses to give her bus fare to go back to the village and vote back the ruling President as this is the constituency where she is registered to vote. The grandmother’s reason for committing suicide is simply that, it is imperative for her to go and vote because she was informed by the late father Zimbabwe Joshua Nkomo at a political rally to vote for this President at every election and she has to do just that at all costs despite the fact that she does not approve of how this President governs the ruling party and the country. She would rather be dead-join Father Zimbabwe in the land of the Gods rather than live to be humiliated by her grandson by obstructing her to do what her leader Father Zimbabwe told her to do.

The play is a two hander, a female and a male supported by one technician. It is written in the Shondenglish language (a mixture of Shona, Ndebele and mostly English.)

 

My dream is that the play should be watched by the leadership of the political parties of Zimbabwe and Africa, members of Parliament, Chiefs and traditional leaders and that they discuss it. My first target audience is the Zanu-PF Politburo and Central Committee and the Fist Family. The result and impact will be a more responsible, focused and people serving profession of politics in Zimbabwe and Africa. Well its just a dream.

 

Producers, Presenters, Events and Conference/Meeting organizers, the Production and Performance Rights of the play The Good President are now on offer for all territories in the World. This is your opportunity to making your contribution to this play to get to as many target audiences as possible and bring the debate on the leadership institution to as many people as possible. If you are inspired, get in touch with me on amakhosi@amakhosi.org and share ideas and opportunities.

 

Cont Mhlanga

Bulawayo. Zimbabwe

Friday, March 30, 2007

 

NGEMA AT AMAKHOSI

 

By Sihle Nyathi  -   posted 6/02/07

We draw inspiration from numerous sources in life and we have people that we admire. These people show us that it can be done. They show us that it is possible. Friday the 26^th and Saturday the 27^th January was a great day for many Amakhosi as the Prince of  Musicals, Mbongeni Ngema, landed at Township Square Cultural Centre in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

People from all artistic disciplines converged at TSCC to watch the proceedings for the Mzilikazi the musical. The cast had been in camp for 3 days. The talent camp had been initiated so that the cast can be prepared for the training and grooming camp that will be taking place from April to June at the Bulawayo Theatre. The camp was very rigorous as there was a high level of physical exercises that strained a lot of people and the cast’ creativity was put to the test as they choreographed their dances and they came up with musicals that they performed for the South African playwright.

The short listed Mzilikazi cast put up a sterling performance as they gave a surprise dance for Mbongeni Ngema based on his album that is to be released at the end of February.

‘ I am touched by the performance, I have attended a lot of receptions since I have arrived and this is the greatest party that I have attended. I hope to include your performance, when I record the music video of my song,’ said Ngema.

Mbongeni Ngema commended the artists on the physical exercises they were doing and said he takes a long time to rehearse plays. “ When I am working on a production, I usually take two years. For instance, I rehearsed Sarafina for a year before we premiered. In some instances when I work on a play , I just do physical and mental exercises for  6 months before I start on the script rehearsals, “ said Ngema.

Ngema stressed on the need for artists to be committed  and that is why he came up with the name for his production house’ Committed Artists’. He also stressed that there are long hours that one puts in the theatre business as skill has to be imparted to otherwise, raw talent.

Meanwhile, Ngema has finished working on a musical based on the story of Chief Bhambatha Zondi, who led an uprising against white colonial settlers in 1906. The Musical is set to be a success as the test runs had been a sell out.

“ The show has not yet premiered but it is already attracting huge crowds,” said Ngema. The musical is going to be premiered in April in Pretoria.

Ngema is also set to release an album in February and it is also to be launched in April. Whilst in the city of Kings, Ngema paid courtesy calls on the Mayor of Bulawayo, Japhet Ndabeni Ncube and the Khumalo family Amantungwa. Ngema also visited the grave of King Mzilikazi and later in the day the grave of Cecil John Rhodes. Both graves are at the Matopos National Park. He was shocked at the difference of the care and upkeep of the two graves with prominence given to that of Rhodes.

“The difference in upkeep given to these two graves in this beautiful part of the world is a clear testimony of how we hate ourselves as Africans’, he said as he left Cecil John Rhodes’s grave side.

Ngema is The Chairman of Committed Artists, which has a number of subdivisions that are film, theatre and Corporate Communications. Ngema is a gifted musician and playwright who rose to prominence with his two man production, Woza Albert, before he went on to pen the world acclaimed Musical, Sarafina.