A man, educated and African, finds himself in the gallows, charged with crimes against humanity. He is a lawyer, educated in England, with a firm belief in Christian values, and has more than just a passing admiration for the Queen and his adopted country. He is a man who has been alienated from his culture, identity and people. Mamadou, a peasant farmer with a sizeable family but limited means bursts into the lawyer’s life begging him for help, or rather mercy. Mamdou’ s cow has expropriated by the government without compensation and now he wants to sue, to take back the rights that were forcibly taken from him. As the story unfolds the lawyer encounters the corrupt and powerful President Junta, who is shortly unseated in a coup led by ‘Tuff Boy’ a rebel leader. It is only when he witnesses the murder of Mamadou at the hands of the rebels that the lawyer finds his humanity, but in his quest for justice he commits unspeakable crimes, for which he is brought before the court.

The facts of the play may be specific to Sierra Leone, but it is the story of every African country cursed with resources. President Junta may be a dictator, but he is a democratically elected one. He is fat and wealthy off the numerous kick-backs and deals he receives from governments and multinational corporations wishing to do business in his country. Western leaders, donors and corporations treat him like a king, as though the country and its people were his personal property; unchallenged, he behaves accordingly.

‘Tuff Boy’ is a grotesque illustration of a rebel leader, high on cocaine, formerly angry and powerless, until he took up arms and waged war on the government. Tuff boy asserts his power through the gun and innumerable rapes of women who feature in the play as nameless, faceless and voiceless victims.

Colonialism lives on in the lawyer, who condescends towards and patronises Mamadou. Despite his high handed Christianity, the lawyer is torn between his disdain of the ignorant and poor ‘native’, and his baser native instinct which drives him to lust after Mamadou’s daughter.

The man who committed thought is a moving play that is an indictment of the hypocrisy of the human rights agenda, aid, and the nations that give it. It illustrates the conflict between humanitarianism and humanism, and shows that right and wrong are not necessarily black and white, but rather, they are painted in shades of grey.

This is a must see at HIFA. If there are any tickets left, grab a few now. Patrice Naiambana is an extremely gifted performer. With some terrific acting he led us though a variety of emotions: outrage, shock, discomfort and denial. And then he also had us in stitches, particularly with his rendition of an African dictator. The only thing it could do with is being shorter. And whatever you Do, don’t pick up the telephone!

It’s EASTER and according to NEWSNET the only news that we can expect is TOMANA, Shamu and the rest of the apparatchiks ‘”celebrating” EASTER bashing other “religious types” as they only manage to look ridiculous wearing flowing garbs their consciences are screaming to get out of. The other worthy news becomes the “abysmal performance” of some R’n'B artist some of us do not give hoot about but is still expected by Karikoga other such types to “sell ZIM tourism” to the rest of the world. The guy invited to be part of a long list dubious of “performers” (check this out to read about Akon for a few laughs) “snubbed” local fans was no doubt ridiculed by NEWSNET form our “national news” and of course we have to ask if he will be pointing his “chums” to Zimbabwe as a destination of easy money after being “exposed” by NEWSNET. Anyone who expects better ought to be steaming through the ears, be it Tsvangirai, Biti and other women and men of goodwill because as we can all see, there are many who imagine that this country’s woes are going to be solved by a bunch of spoilt post-independence free-spirits dancing the night away to some crappy, neo-liberal, pseudo-Woodstock “make-love-not-whatever-crap”.

Upenyu Makoni-Muchema has some fun with Blessing-Miles Tendi, Zimbabwean author and researcher.

Read the full interview with Blessing-Miles Tendi here (includes some audio).

Describe yourself in five words?
I’m a Zimbabwean researcher in African Politics.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Always give your best, and believe in yourself.

What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever done?
It’s probably the women I’ve dated. Professionally I’d say it’s that I’ve been to places asking questions, where I shouldn’t be asking questions.

What is your most treasured possession?
My family, although it doesn’t sound right to call my family a possession.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Self pity.

Do you have any strange hobbies?
Often when I’m working on something I become rather obsessive about it.

What do you dislike most about your appearance?
I’m kind of balding. I used to have very rich dark hair and I’ve got two sisters, who envied my hair. And now to see it go away while I’m still relatively young is just hard.

What is your greatest extravagance?
Giving, in terms of emotional or material support. But it does give you a lot back.

What have you got in your fridge?
I love those South African sausages … fish, pineapples, because pineapple is my favourite fruit.

What is your greatest fear?
Failure.

What have you got in your pockets right now?
This is the most bizarre thing about me. They’re empty; I never have anything in my pockets. I feel free that way. I like my pockets empty. You know what they say about a man who comes with empty pockets? He has no ulterior motives, what you see is what you get.

What is your favourite journey?
For me it’s always home. My parents are Ndau, but I was born and raised in Bulawayo.

Interviewer: Do you speak Ndebele? Ngiyakhulumisi Ndebele, ndino rekete chiNdau, ndino taura chiShona

Interviewer: What do you think about the great Shona Ndebele divide? There’s a book by Brian Raftopoulos and A Mlambo, Becoming Zimbabwe, it’s one of my favourite books right now. One of it’s aims it to take apart historical myths. One such thing they take apart is this divide between Shona and Ndebele. What is Shona really? What is Ndebele really? Ndebele is made out of various disparate groups, so are the Shona, Zezurus, Manyikas, Ndau . . . and they call them Shona. For me really these are politicised constructions, both Ndebele and Shona, which in many ways have kept the country apart, for quite false reasons. But obviously very useful to politicians.

Who are your heroes in real life?
Jocelyn Alexander. She was one of my supervisors at University. She’s an Oxford professor and the most intelligent human being I’ve ever met. I totally admire and look up to her.

When and where were you happiest?
Whenever I’m with my mother.

Interviewer: Are you a mommy’s boy? I guess you could say that. When I’m with my mum I’m at my happiest. Your mum’s your mum; she carried you around for nine months, its unconditional. I’ve made stupid mistakes in my time but she takes me back all the time.

What’s your biggest vice?
. . . Yeah, we’re having this interview and I’m having shots of brandy . . . that’s my biggest vice.

What were you like at school?
Quiet. A geek. Read a lot. Wanted to be popular, but never was because the popular in high school were the athletes.

What are you doing next?
Working on my next book. It’s going to be a history book. The core thesis is still a little disparate right now so I can’t get into what exactly I want to do. I guess I’m going to figure it out as I work on it.

Read Ethan Zuckerman:

We need to recognize activists who don’t use technology. He offers the story of Alaa Abdel Fatteh, a celebrated young activist who’s active both online and offline. Evgeny notes that his parents are seasoned Egyptian dissidents. “Alaa spent five weeks in jail, his father spent five years,” but Alaa got more attention because he’s a blogger. “This doesn’t mean that cyberactivism is not important, but that we tend to fetishize it.” More

Upenyu Makoni-Muchemwa goes Inside/Out with John Makumbe, author, political scientist and commentator

Full interview with John Makumbe here.

Describe yourself in five words?
Bold, courageous, unflinching and very happy to be myself.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
To receive Jesus Christ as my personal saviour.

What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever done?
I bought my wife a car – a Golf – for two hundred dollars. I drove it home and she didn’t like it. The vehicle could go into reverse at any time, even when it was moving forward. It was a surprise gift. She drove it and it was big trouble.

What is your most treasured possession?
My salvation.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
I think to belong to ZANU PF as a member. I’ve been dying to say that! I think you have to be absolutely miserable to belong to ZANU PF as a member. People like Jonathan Moyo need their heads examined.

Do you have any strange hobbies?
I love watching game . . . animals. Last week I was at Chengeta Lodge in Selous. They have captive lions and I was fascinated by the power they have.

What do you dislike most about your appearance?
I wish I were a little taller than I am. I would be happy to be as tall as Obert Gutu, and then I would smash Patrick Chinamasa.

Interviewer: why do you want to smash him?

He’s an idiot. He comes quite close to Jonathan Moyo, but at least he has the decency, when I have a quarrel with him, and we see each other out somewhere he still comes to say hello. Jonathan when he is angry with you, when he has quarrelled with you, it’s permanent and forever.

What is your greatest extravagance?
I’ve just bought myself a Toyota Harrier for $10 000 and I could have bought myself a cheaper car and bought a car for my daughter with the money that would have been left. But I don’t believe in buying children cars. I believe children must be helped to get a driver’s license, my daughter got hers yesterday. She had to go to Kadoma after failing here [in Harare] four times because she would not pay a bribe. I told her I will not pay a bribe; I’m the former Chairman of Transparency International. Now when she works and gets money then she can buy a car.

What have you got in your fridge?
I don’t have a fridge here in the office. At home we have two or three goats, we have polony, duck. I think we also have sausage.

What is your greatest fear?
My greatest fear right now is that Morgan Tsvangirai might be killed. There’s been already a threat; in fact it came from the soldiers. That’s my greatest fear because I do not think we will have someone who is as easily popular with the voters as Morgan. Tendai Biti and Elias Mudzuri are very good, but they are not at the same level of popularity as Morgan.

Interviewer: are you familiar with the Wiki Cables? What do you think of the assessment Dell gave of Tsvangirai when he said he would be a good candidate to effect change but would not make a good leader after the change?

It’s rubbish. Utter rubbish. He is a change oriented man. Dell didn’t spend enough time with Morgan; he didn’t look at Morgan’s track record at ZCTU. He is a highly consultative person. That is what makes a good leader. He will manage the change not because he is skilled in managing it, but because he will put skilled people around himself to help manage the change. If Morgan were not like that he would be where he is today. ZANU PF has done everything they can to get rid of him.

What have you got in your pockets right now?
My keys for the office and some tissue.

What is your favourite journey?
I love flying to Johannesburg. I’m a voyager so sometimes SAA puts me in business class.

Who are your heroes in real life?
Jesus, and my wife. My late father, he was amazing. I wish I could be what he was.

When and where were you happiest?
When I was on sabbatical leave in the US, where I was guest lecturing at Michigan State University. We were very happy. We enjoyed ourselves. The snow was everywhere, my daughter and I used to ride bicycles in the snow for hours.

Interviewer: What are the students there like as compared to here?

Our students are angels. In terms of performance, we have stars. In the US you get some of the dullest students, they can hardly write a straight sentence. We always preferred to use multiple-choice questions, even for tests. In the US you work for money because as they pass you know that they know nothing.

What’s your biggest vice?
Sugar.

What were you like at school?
I was very naughty. I used to be in trouble almost all the time. I was stubborn and for some reason I knew about rights already, and I would insist on my rights so I would get punished. Because I’m albino I grew up being insulted by guys and I started fighting when I was pretty young. After a while guys would still insult me but they would do it while running away. I was intelligent at school, very intelligent. I’ve never failed a class.

What are you doing next?
I’m taking your photo.