It’s very often you hear people, especially the youth in Zimbabwe, speaking in what seems to be borrowed accents. A scenario that many people might have encountered is in public transport, say in a commuter omnibus, when a girl’s phone rings and she picks up an accent and everyone turns their heads to try and match the face with the accent. Also ladies who call into radio stations tend to speak in a borrowed accent, which the DJ finds it hard to hear what is exactly being said. So they try by all means to keep the conversation short.

A food for thought session facilitated by DefZee, an online youth group, at the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Auditorium discussed the topic, “Faking it- this generation’s new religion”. The panel that shared their views on the issue included local musicians Stunner, Cindy and Ten Diamond. The musicians seemed to have different views but listening closely it seemed like they thought in a similar way.

The musicians were asked to respond to this whole faking it religion and whether they were faking it. Ten Diamond said that people have been faking it for ages and it was not something only to be associated with the youth of today. He admitted that the media has a great role to play in influencing the youth. Therefore in his view Zimbabwean youth are not faking because of the environment they are living in which is dominated by the western media. In his own right as an artist, he sings hip-hop, a music genre from America. However, he contextualises his lyrics to suit the Zimbabwean environment.

Stunner admitted that people are faking it 90%. He said that youths fake for a reason and in so doing some find themselves living different lives at home, on stage, with friends or at church. Personally Stunner maintains that he is not doing any faking because he is not trying to live anyone’s lifestyle but his own. For example in his hit song ‘Team Hombe’, he sings ‘andisi mhene zvangu asi ndiri bho‘ (I am not filthy rich but am cool). He explained that he doesn’t have much money to live the flamboyant lifestyle but with what he has it’s enough for him and he is cool with it.

Cindy, the only female artist on the panel and who had the opportunity to perform at this year’s Big Brother Amplified show, is hurt by those who fake it. To her the youth living in Zimbabwe are not faking as much as those Zimbabweans living in the diaspora. She gave an account of a number of her friends who are Zimbabwean and living in the diaspora but when asked of their nationality they claim to be Malawians or South Africans. She also discussed some of the diaspora which upon returning to Zimbabwe cannot speak Shona or Ndebele. To her, these people fake it by leaving and denying their roots. In her words, ‘faking it is denouncing who you are and embracing who you are not’.  Cindy said she wrote a song, ‘Zimbo swag‘ to celebrate the style, intelligence and resources Zimbabwean youths have.

All the artists on this panel were asked why they use fake names or dress in certain ways on stage. Aren’t they faking it? They responded that they are in the music business to sell and therefore they dress to sell. They give themselves fake names for easy identification, and easy recall on the listener’s part. So the next time you see Rocqui on stage with his torn jeans and shabby hair he’s not faking, he is merely trying sell his music. You can be a salad, murasta, muninja but are you faking it?

Only 100 people will be selected to attend – application open to the public

More than just another talk-shop TEDxHarare will celebrate the transformative power of ideas that improving the way citizens of the world live, learn, work and play. The conference will honour African innovators whose passion, curiosity and dogged resolve is paving the way to a newer, brighter future for Zimbabwe and the continent. TEDxHarare will feature presentations by phenomenal professors, entrepreneurs, story tellers and remarkable artists who are contributing to the vast potential that is Africa’s future.  Confirmed speakers and presentations include Chris Kabwato, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Oswald Jumira, Marianne Knuth and Sarah Norman.

In order to create an intimate setting for more interaction, conversation and connection with the speakers, organisers of TEDxHarare have limited attendance to only 100 seats. The event is open to anyone who is passionate about spreading ideas in the spirit of TED. Interested attendees must apply to participate in the limited-space event.

To register either send a blank email to register [at] tedxharare [dot] com or visit the site at www.TEDxHarare.com and click on the ATTEND tab.

The Asiagate scandal has been top news for the past week in the daily papers. The publicity given to this story sounded like this scandal just popped out all of sudden with the visit by Sepp Blatter, world soccer governing body FIFA president. To think of it, these acts of corruption and bribery actually happened a year and some months ago and nobody said a thing about it. It seems like the custodians of sports in this country had their attention diverted to the jostling for positions to govern the Zimbabwe Football Authority (ZIFA). Every wanna be sports writer in this country has made a name out of this story in the past month.

One of my work mates asked me what this “Asiagate” thing was all about. I had no specific answer to that question but only to say “it’s a bunch of soccer crooks that went overseas on match fixing tours and soliciting bribes”. I had no guts to call them soccer players/ officials because what these people did is a disgrace to the nation. The manner in which the report on the Asia tour was produced is scandalous on its own. There is now finger pointing and blame shifting even involving media personnel. But the most surprising thing is that the mastermind of this scandal was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison in Finland yet here in Zimbabwe it is still just news with no arrests. One may suggest that perhaps the people involved in this story are all overseas like the guy arrested in Finland but take a casual visit to town and you can bump into one of the fellows. Since no arrests have been made it really looks like the media reports were just for publicity in preparation for the visit by Sepp Blatter.

Having spent much of my adult life thinking about my language and culture, I felt both comfort and dismay in reading Thembi Sachikonye’s article for Newsday Losing our way:

Sure, we need to ask ourselves whether there is anything wrong with being swallowed up in a cultural tidal wave, participating willingly in the elimination of difference and diversity, and taking up another people’s way of life, another people’s language, and another people’s values in the name of progress, education or sophistication. And I am hoping that when we have asked ourselves these questions we will end up with an answer we can all live with.

We cannot redeem our cultural failures without a concerted and consistent effort. We cannot right our wrongs without first acknowledging that there is a problem, and then working hard to fix it.

This translates to a daily consciousness of how we communicate and conduct ourselves around those we want to influence. It means carefully filtering the influences we subject our children to.

I think is time for a cultural renaissance. We must begin to have a different and more meaningful understanding of our culture and languages and with that a more concerted effort towards preserving these. We cannot continue to wax lyrical on the opportunities allowed by globalisation, the emergence of technologies and media that are more inclusive. Yet when faced with the challenge of putting these tools to utilitarian use, we balk.

As a people we cannot continue to brag about how educated we are, but when we truly examine where all that education is going, what good it does us as a nation, suddenly there is silence. Where is the wiki on Zimbabwean history language and culture written for and by Zimbabweans themselves? Why aren’t more Shona and Ndebele books available in audio and as mp3 downloads? I want to read more histories by and about Zimbabweans that are without a political agenda, and watch well-written films that are entirely in vernacular and subtitled in English. We as Zimbabweans have to prioritise our cultures and languages. We cannot afford to wait for someone to create a grant that will specifically allow us to do so.

We all love it when technology makes our lives exciting, that is perhaps why mobile phones have been changing in shapes and sizes with stunning speed ever since these wonder gadgets were introduced to us back in the day. You can easily recall the “bricks” we used when Strive was granted his licence after “Father Zimbabwe” intervened. It’s kinda laughable now if you think of it. It wasn’t long of course before funky handsets became the vogue and them who had the bricks became very self-conscious about answering their phones in public as they feared ridicule from those who felt they were keeping up with cell phone technology.

One can list all kinds of phones that had their very fleeting 15 minutes of fame, the razors, the flip phones, and one can even recall some folks who seemed to think they were up the ladder of funky because of the ringing tone of their mobile! The “camera phone” became for some a “must have” as folks became fascinated with the whole idea of snapping away on your phone and sharing the pictures with the world. Then came this whole thing about 3G-enabled phones and some considered it the zenith of cool and are “Facebooking” in public as testimony to others that they are Zuckerberg-types therefore the definition of savvy.

I have heard from people who rushed to purchase what they back then considered expensive phones now claiming they do not need those phones after all: a phone that can receive calls and send messages will do just fine and you wonder what changed. Maybe they just got broke and can’t afford the smart phones of 2011. Yet there is a trend that has emerged rather with lightning speed that is pushing the boundaries of social and cell phone etiquette. And this is not the kind that speaks at the top of their voices in kombis about some phony multi-million dollar deal they are negotiating. But of course many users have obviously welcomed the advancement of mobile technology that has enabled these to be multi-media devices where you can record and also store music, movies, pictures etc. and they are using these utilises to the fullest.

However, it is the music part that pisses me off. These gadgets have given wannabe entrepreneurs immense business selling “memory cards” and this has become some kind of godsend for “music lovers.” Without consideration to other people’s space, this music is being blasted from mobile phones in all kinds of places you can imagine. I have seen and heard some of these people play music from their cell phones while in a kombi ride full of passengers. That these things come with earphones is of no consequence to these people. Looks like the logic is: the louder the better. Imagine sitting in a long kombi ride next to someone playing their favourite sounds, and I saw the other day a young woman actually singing along in kombi full of passengers! Boy was I pissed off. But what can you do? Tell the clown to turn that thing off? You can imagine the response. I remember when there was this excitement about “people’s radio,” you know, those walkie talkie-like wireless radios some chaps carried around with them everywhere, beer halls and even soccer matches where they would listen to the commentary of the match they were watching! It was just irritating, but those radios somehow disappeared from our faces and now we have these cell phones. OMG!

I imagine I am not the only one terribly irritated by this. We all love mobile technology but do we have to shove it in other people’s faces? You just have to recall those situations where people “refuse” to switch off their mobiles during a funeral or church service. It just is the definition of uncool. Around 2001 just the time the cell phone craze was gripping the nation, I recall a friend telling me his girlfriend actually asked him to call her during class so everyone could drool when they saw her phone as she answered it! You see she was doing some course whose classes were after hours so it presented an irresistible opportunity to show other working types just what she was made of. Yes my friend, there are people like that there. But puuuuuleeeeez, turn off the music!

Tabani Moyo makes some important points in this article on media freedom, or rather the lack of it in Zimbabwe. His final comments are particularly pertinent when he says that Zimbabweans are simply “asking for their right to speak and freely express themselves thus fulfilling the founding aspirations of the liberation struggle which the current government is collectively failing to uphold.”

On 27 May 2011 the improperly constituted Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) called for applications for two free- to- air national commercial radio broadcasting services. A national free- to- air national commercial licence refers to a profit making broadcasting entity that transmits an un-encoded signal throughout Zimbabwe.

Notwithstanding the fact that the legality of the board which called for these licenses is heavily disputed, one also needs to examine the wide reaching nature and effect of this call for licenses.

Due to the non-transparent manner in the management of the broadcasting signal administered in this country, chances are high that the smokescreen call for the licenses will become an extension of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC)’s monopoly.

For example the Zimpapers stable applied for a license in line with the permanent secretary George Charamba’s advice at the organisation’s strategic retreat held in Nyanga early this year. If Zimpapers is granted the licence, it will fit well into the propaganda manufacturing mills of Zanu PF ahead of the elections which will augur well with the government’s intention to maintain state monopoly of the airwaves.

Given that scenario the BAZ’s impartiality and sincerity will be put to severe test considering that Radio Voice of the People (VOP) which was bombed by ‘unknown persons’ on 29 August 2002, is also among the applicants for the two commercial radio licenses. As for the other applicants, it can be anybody’s guess as to who their sponsors are.

The euphoria and excitement that accompanied the call for the applications in question might at this stage be premature.

be wary

On 6 July 2011, the infamous duo of Tafataona Mahoso and Obert Muganyura who are the BAZ chairperson and chief executive officer respectively, painted a misleading picture on the state of incapacity to regulate the prospective new players in the broadcasting sector.

The duo was quizzed on why BAZ had opted for only two licenses in the category of commercial broadcasting contrary to its submissions to parliament in 2009 that the regulator was going to give priority to community radio stations. Muganyura claimed that the regulator had conducted a survey in 38 centres in Zimbabwe and that those surveyed had said BAZ should prioritise commercial radio stations ahead of community radio broadcasters.

One can only wonder as to whether the survey was ever conducted notwithstanding the methodology that was used during the so-called survey which was conducted in a veil of secrecy.  What criterion was used in determining the 38 centers surveyed and how reflective are they in terms of the nation’s preferences?

In the same meeting Muganyura confirmed that the country has capacity to license 56 community radio stations as per his position and plan submitted to the same Committee in 2009. Why then is Muganyura and his comrades in the Ministry of Information, permanent secretary George Charamba and Minister Webster Shamu reluctant to give the people of Zimbabwe their space to access and disseminate diverse views through their own community radio stations.

the ruse of broadcasting and state security

The paranoid Zanu PF personnel stationed at the Ministry of Information and those at the Zanu PF headquarters have been peddling misleading statements for too long that broadcasting is a state security concern hence the need to keep it tightly controlled as a monopoly. This is a misplaced notion because the people of Zimbabwe know better that broadcasting is a developmental agent which, if freed will positively contribute to our knowledge index and nation building.

Jonathan Moyo, George Charamba, Webster Shamu, Tafataona Mahoso and Obert Muganyura among others of like thinking, should sober up and realize that Zimbabwe is not their private entity but it belongs to its inhabitants. To this reality, they need to wake up and smell the coffee on what’s happening elsewhere – private broadcasters and community radio stations continue to mushroom and proliferate throughout the region and Africa as a whole save for Zimbabwe and Eritrea.

In 2008, for example, the DRC had 41 radio stations and 51 TV stations in Kinshasa alone out of a total of 381 radio stations and between 81 and 93 TV channels throughout the country. In 2006/7 Benin had 73 radio stations while Uganda has more than 120 and Mali 200. South Africa has an aggregate of more than 1000 TV and radio stations combined.

the monitoring incapacity myth

Muganyura argued that the regulator did not call for applications for more licenses because it does not have the capacity to monitor and control the new players in the country.

Everyone knows that this office has become an office of excuses on why it has been failing to issue licenses for new players since 2001. However it never occurred to me that it could one day fall this low and shallow in its deceptive tendencies.

If BAZ does not have capacity to monitor and control new players one will be quick to ask how the government managed to intercept and shut down Capitol Radio on 5 October 2000? How did the government intercept Radio VOP signals leading to the arrest of the radio station’s six trustees in 2006? It equally sobers one’s mind how the same government is intercepting and jamming external radio stations such as Voice of America’s Studio 7, SW Radio Africa and Radio VOP from broadcasting in Zimbabwe. That argument is pedestal.

Zimbabweans are not a gullible lot. All they are asking for is their right to speak and freely express themselves thus fulfilling the founding aspirations of the liberation struggle which the current government is collectively failing to uphold.

Tabani Moyo

Tabani Moyo can be contacted at rebeljournalist [at] yahoo [dot] com