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Archive for the 'Media' Category

Catch the HIFA fever!

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Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 by Zanele Manhenga

hifa-audience1

I’m Kubatana’s roving reporter for this year’s HIFA and it’s promising to be an experience I wish every one could have. I am ready to drink from a pool of entertainment and mind opening performances. Stay tuned and see HIFA through my eyes!

Shame on you South Africa

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Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 by Bev Clark

Read this article on slum clearance South Africa-style written by Dan McDougall.

Red Ants beat residents of Alexandra Township with crowbars

WAVING iron bars and pickaxes, the Red Ants, a rented mob of thugs in bright red overalls and crimson helmets, used the half-light of dawn for cover as they marched into the slum. Stamping out the first cooking fires of the day with heavy boots, they spread out in a long line. Then they attacked.

Bleary immigrant women dropped plastic water containers and ran in panic towards their corrugated iron homes. “Grab the children,” they screamed.

By sunrise their shacks on the outskirts of Johannesburg had been razed. They were forced to watch as their few possessions were burnt.

The Red Ants, described as state-sponsored mercenaries by their critics, have become a growing force in the past few months as South African cities have begun a campaign of “beautification” before the World Cup begins in June. This means clearing away unsightly immigrant squatter camps.

This month, more than 100 Zimbabweans were beaten and evicted by Red Ants from a derelict building on the main road to Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg, one of the football tournament’s main venues.

It followed a series of Red Ant evictions ordered by the provincial department of public transport along main roads within a mile of the stadium, which will host five matches. Hundreds more Zimbabweans were forcibly evicted from properties in central Johannesburg.

Red Ants also flattened more than 100 shacks within a two-mile radius of the Mbombela stadium, near the Kruger national park. Most of those evicted were Zimbabwean.

Human rights groups are warning of a return to xenophobic violence that led to the deaths of scores of immigrants during township riots in 2008.

According to Braam Hanekom, chairman of Passop, a refugee rights charity based in Cape Town, the Red Ants are doing the government’s dirty work. “They are essentially a militia that ruthlessly and forcefully displaces people from their shelters under government instructions,” he said. “They are notorious for their brutal and violent approach towards the poor.”

The ruling African National Congress regards beautification as a policy that extends beyond the building of new stadiums, roads and airports. It sees the World Cup as an opportunity to showcase its achievements since it came to power 16 years ago.

Attacks have increased on immigrants drawn to South Africa by the hope of work on projects for the tournament. And the onslaught may intensify after the World Cup. Unemployment, already at 27%, is expected to rise as thousands of construction jobs disappear. In the run-up to local elections next year, many politicians are expected to exploit fears that immigrants are “stealing” jobs.

The South African commission for human rights said it had been bombarded by claims from immigrants that they had been warned they would be “dealt with” after the tournament.

Lawrence Mushwana, the commission’s chairman, said: “African foreigners living in South Africa must brace themselves for a new wave of xenophobic attacks after the World Cup is over.”

Walter Da Costa, chairman of a migrant support group in Johannesburg, believes local authorities bear responsibility for much of the violence. Council agents pay the Red Ants and give them their distinctive uniform on a casual basis, he said.

“As they are recruited from the bottom rung of the ladder, is it surprising that their actions usually amount to little more than intimidation and terrible violence?”

Many Red Ants are drawn from vigilante groups in townships in Durban and Johannesburg which are already intent on ridding the country of immigrants. They routinely refer to migrant families as “parasites” and “cockroaches”.

“We will not stop beating them until our work is done, until they leave this land forever,” a Red Ant member in Soweto told The Sunday Times.

“It’s our land and we have the right to help the authorities move them on. If the municipality asks us to destroy these cockroaches then we’ll do that and flatten their homes to dust.”

Attacks by the Red Ants and a growing number of vigilante groups are nationwide. In the Breede Valley, in the Western Cape, more than 1,200 Zimbabwean refugees struggle to survive in a camp built on a rugby field. Many are victims of Red Ant raids in the north; others have been burnt out of their homes by hate mobs.

“I was among a few hundred Zimbabwean refugees taking shelter in the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg when the Red Ants came and sprayed us with brown sewage water,” said Chenzera Ndbele, 14. “When we moved to a local slum with my mother they came back with pickaxes. When they forced us out they made us watch as they burnt our belongings.”

Dorcas Chinomera, 17, a refugee from Zimbabwe, recalled the day when a mob arrived outside her shanty home in De Doorns, two hours’ drive from Cape Town. “They were screaming ‘kweri kweri’ [parasites] at us. They spat in our faces and stole our furniture and burnt our home to the ground as the police looked on.”

Zimbabwe’s best arts festival

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Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 by Bev Clark

Yesterday was the first day of HIFA and somehow I managed to squeeze in 5 shows which is impressive seeing as I have a day job.

First up was Kupenga Kwa Hamlet with the really, really fabulous Denton Chikura and Tonderai Munyevu. Their performance at the Standard Theatre was electric and the capacity crowd enjoyed every minute of it, especially the surprising end. Go see it!

Next was The Juggler, Mark Nizer. Mark is a great performer and had the audience eating out of his hands, both when he had hands full of juggling balls AND when they were empty! Part of the joy of Mark’s performance was his humour and friendliness. He said how much he loves coming to Zimbabwe and praised Zimbabweans for being real can do people. Mark encountered a host of challenges during his first show mainly brought on by the fact that his lap top died during his travels and he had to do as well as he could without it.

Hero at 6pm in the Standard Theatre is a wonderful production performed by Craig Morris and directed by Andrew Buckland. Last year I saw Blood Orange and decided that I’ll see Anything that Andrew has been involved in.

From Hero we went on to Carmina Burana, the opening show. On our way in we bought a bucket of ice and a bottle of chardonnay and found our friends in the throng of folk who had turned out for what is usually the highlight of HIFA. I loved the singing which was rousing and beautiful but I was left disappointed by the performance and the visuals surrounding the singing. I got a text message from a friend late last night saying that she had gotten bored by the show. My boredom was kept at bay by the incredibly beautiful Zimbabwean night sky and the group of people I was with. I have to say though that we spent a lot of time talking amongst ourselves and listening to the music rather than watching the show.

It was a case of leaving the very best to last. A friend persuaded me to drop by Reps Theatre in Avondale to see Jutro, a South Africa production brought to Zimbabwe by the Embassy of Israel. It’s the story of a singer in a rundown night club during World War II. HIFA has only been going for a day but so far, if you see anything, see Jutro!

Volcanic ash affects Zimbabwean writers

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Friday, April 23rd, 2010 by Mgcini Nyoni

I never imagined myself talking of volcanic ash over Europe from an Icelandic volcano. I thought what does volcanic ash have to do with a poor writer from Zimbabwe? I might never be in the vicinity of a volcano in my lifetime.

But the volcanic ash has hit my colleagues in the arts industry in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Jane Morris and Brian Jones of Amabooks, a local publisher, were supposed to travel to South Africa and on to Britain for the London Book Fair. Amabooks have published numerous books including short writings from Bulawayo. They have also published several collections of poetry by John Eppel. John Eppel was also published in the prestigious poetry anthology Fire In The Soul: 100 Poems For Human Rights by Amnesty International and New Internationalist. Also in the anthology are local poets, Julius Chingono based in Harare and myself based in Bulawayo.

I met Jane and Brian at the art gallery in Bulawayo and they were not at all pleased with the fact that they had failed to travel to the London Book Fair. And they were now trying to make frantic efforts to travel to the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA), the biggest festival in Zimbabwe. Since the Amabooks team thought they wouldn’t be around, they had not made any arrangements for HIFA. We have only a handful of festivals in Zimbabwe; these include Ibumba Festival, run by Siyaya Arts in Bulawayo, Intwasa Arts Festival that is held at the end of September in Bulawayo and the Bulawayo Poetry Festival 26-28 August. The Bulawayo Poetry Festival is run by Poetry Bulawayo and is a feast of poetry.

Another artist affected by the volcanic ash is writer Christopher Mlalazi. He was supposed to have travelled to the US for a writing fellowship on Tuesday the 21st of April. I met him on the 22nd and he was unhappy that the volcanic ash had scuttled his plans. Chris’s specialty is short stories. But he recently published a novel, Many Rivers, which tells of the many rivers that an illegal Zimbabwean immigrant has to face. After crossing the crocodile infested Limpopo River, there are still many other rivers to be crossed in the form of obstacles and hardships. Christopher is a National Arts Merits Awards winner with his collection of short stories, Dancing With Life that was published by Amabooks.

When I met Jane Morris later she had become rather upbeat. She had managed to convince the British Council, sponsors of the London Book Fair, to send them to a literary fair in Wales instead. I sincerely hope the whole volcanic ash will clear up soon so that our torch bearers can travel.

I am an activist not a trouble maker

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Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 by Amanda Atwood

We have just received this comment from SFM broadcaster Soneni Gwizi. She hopes that her speaking out will also encourage other communicators to keep to values of telling and writing the truth. Speak out!

I am a news maker not a gossiper
I am a story teller not an entertainer
I am an activist not a trouble maker
I am a communicator, i write what i have heard, seen and what is to come.
I am a broadcaster not a commentor
I speak factual realistic issues not biased,
I am a friend not an enemy

Imperial snobbishness

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Thursday, March 25th, 2010 by Bev Clark

Below is a comment from The Guardian Weekly (12/3/10). It reminded me of Delta Ndou’s blog about Zuma being called a buffoon by the British media.

“How do Zulus explain polygamy?” the BBC website asked in a piece at the end of last week’s coverage of the South African president’s state visit to Britain. There are many more serious concerns about Jacob Zuma’s rule beside his domestic arrangements, and many more important issues for the British and South African governments to discuss. He has said deeply unpleasant things about women and Aids. It is right to criticize him for this. But that does not wholly explain last week’s media fascination with polygamy. There is an undertone of imperial snobbishness about it as well, the mockery of a visiting president exposing a British national weakness for thinking of foreign leaders in the most simplistic, comic-book terms.

African leaders seem particularly prone to this stereotyping. Nelson Mandela can do no wrong in British eyes, just as President Zuma can now do no good – South Africa’s saint giving way to its sinner. Idi Amin, who got his own state visit in the 1970s, was thought a buffoon by the press before he was declared a butcher. Robert Mugabe experienced a similar slide. Britain’s closer neighbours suffer too. President Sarkozy’s state visit in 2008 was dominated by excitement over the tight outfits worn by his wife Carla Bruni. Silvio Berlusconi is routinely laughed at in the press as an ageing Italian lothario, which takes away from the much more serious harm his rule does to his country. Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is seen as a tough guy. Most other world leaders, even Germany’s Angela Merkel, lacking any easy definition, are largely ignored.

What Zuma makes of the reporting of his several marriages is unknown. A tough politician, he has doled out as many insults as he has taken. Before leaving for Britain he told a South African paper that “when the British came to our country they said everything we did was barbaric, was wrong, inferior in what-ever way”. That is a reasonable point about an empire whose relics linger on in the imperial coaches and plumed hats dusted off before state visits. The absurdity runs both ways in this affair.