BabaGilbert comes home unable to contain his excitement; a well placed friend of his has given him good news. After years of being reduced to scrounging to make ends meet selling chicken feet and airtime he and his wife are about to make a quick recovery. His connection has told him that the Zimbabwe dollar is about to make a comeback. The Unity Government and the multicurrency system ruined his dealer business, but things are about to change. When the Zim-dollar comes back BabaGilbert is going to make it bigger than before; he is going to open a bank.

Next door lives a teacher, Justice. His girlfriend, Happiness Dube, won’t let him forget that she is their primary bread winner. Happiness has managed to maintain her business through the transition, doing deals in town during the day and drinking and partying all night. For Justice nothing has really changed since the days of the dollar. He is still underpaid, unable to buy his girlfriend a decent engagement ring. Scorned by Happiness and convinced that the dollar is about to make a comeback, Justice quits his teaching job and joins Baba naAmai Gilbert Merchant Bank as a manager.

Colours of Dreams is an hilarious tongue in cheek portrait of those Zimbabweans who prospered in the last days of the Zimbabwe Dollar.

The xenophobic violence in South Africa has grabbed headlines in South Africa. Gangs of angry young South Africans frustrated by poverty and unemployment took to the streets of townships like Kayelitsha in Cape Town brutally assaulting and killing hundreds of foreigners.

Burn Mukwerekwere Burn is the story of two Zimbabweans caught in the middle of the maelstrom. The play is at times brutal in its honesty and assessment of the reasons why there are an estimated three million Zimbabweans resident in South Africa. As they attempt to journey to safety, they reflect on the predicament they find themselves in and characters are forced to deal with their own tribal differences.  Njabulo is a Shona teacher reduced to carving trinkets for foreigners to buy. Farai, is Ndebele and a trader in South Africa to restock in time for the holidays.

Written by Blessing Hungwe, featuring himself and Michael Kudakwashe, this narrative is the woven perspectives of both protagonists, trying to survive a night of horror in South Africa. Ultimately they come to understand that the things that bind them together, a love of country and life, are greater than the things that keep them apart.

‘The Engagement Party’ is this year’s (2011) HIFA theme. The HIVOS Spoken Word Programme on Wednesday 27, April took time to engage Zimbabweans celebrating African expression as they listened to poems being recited by poets from Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi and Ghana. The theme for the day was, “Diversity in our Voices”. The occasion wouldn’t have been a success without the colourful and wonderful audience. Not only was expression done in poetry, but in song too, as witnessed by the performance by Zimbabwe’s beautiful jazz singer Claire Nyakujara.

Mbizo Chirasha, The Black Poet, was the first poet to perform. The themes of his poetry consist of children’s rights, politics, social lives, gender issues, praise and protest, culture and African pride. He took us on an expedition of the African names from the King Jaja of Opobo to Chaminuka with his poem was titled, ‘African Names’. Another local poet who performed was, Bhekumusa Moyo. He has several of his poems published in the Sunday News Poetry Corner and other publications. On this day he took to the stage two of his poems titled, ‘A poetic crusade’ and ‘This hand’.

Power to the sisters hey! T J Dema from Botswana was the only female poet who performed on this day. I must say her poems are truly engaging as she tackles life issues with her African voice. She performed ‘Neon poem’ and ‘First born Lullaby’. An extract from ‘Neon poem’ reads:

Poems are bullshit unless they teach
They serve absolutely no purpose unless they reach
The audience they are written, the ears they are meant for

Q. Malewezi from Malawi well known as Q, delivered his poem in heartfelt verbal bursts interlaced with humorous suggestions. He managed to invite the audience on an artistic journey in his alphabetic poem, ‘Journey to Q’. One would think it’s a journey of his life but no, he dwelled on all the issues in Africa in alphabetical order (A-Q of course) in an artstic manner, which was just superb. The other poem he performed was ‘Recycling Politicians’.

Quaye Kojo known as Sir Black from Ghana delivered the last poem. He tackles poetry more on a thought provoking note. During his performance he got inquisitive as he threw questions here and there to engagea  the audience.  Below is a quote from one of his poems:

If vegetarians eat vegetables
What should humanitarians eat?
~ Humanity in diversity~

To end the programme singer Claire Nyakujara showed her diversity by performing three songs one in Shona, Ndebele and English.

To listen to more of the poetic engagement do make a date with The HIVOS Spoken Word at the HIVOS Poetry Café.

Saturday (Coca-Cola Day) – 3-4pm
Sunday (Alliance Insurance Day) – 12-1pm

The Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe has just issued the following statement:

VMCZ WORKERS DAY SOLIDARITY STATEMENT

29 April 2011

The Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) joins the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and all Zimbabweans in commemorating Workers Day on May 1 2011.  This year’s commemorations which are to be held under the theme, ‘Respect our Rights, Save the Economy, Save Our Jobs,’ are significant in that they reflect the continued commitment to the pursuit of better livelihoods by all workers in Zimbabwe. This is despite the fact that the majority of workers are still surviving under difficult circumstances due to the high cost of living as well as the lack of adequate provision of social services.

In tandem with its mandate and mission, the VMCZ also takes this opportunity to express gratitude to the workers through their national union, the ZCTU, for their principled belief in the necessity of freedom of expression and freedom of information for the realization of better working and living conditions for all in Zimbabwe. Indeed, the VMCZ, as an organization with a mandate to ensure self regulation of the media, derives strength not only from the media fraternity but also from the working people of Zimbabwe who are keen on seeing a fair, balanced and accountable media.

Indeed as stated by the ZCTU in the May Day celebrations of 2009 and 2010, it may be dawn, but workers must continue the struggle. The VMCZ urges the ZCTU to continue with the same understanding over and about the struggle for media freedom in the country. This is because although the print media has expanded, there are still no changes to the electronic broadcast media, with ZBC enjoying a patently biased monopoly of our airwaves.

Once again, the VMCZ congratulates the ZCTU and the working people of Zimbabwe on this occasion of the 2011 May Day celebrations.

The Harare International Festival of the Arts opened yesterday with the expected pomp and fanfare. The Festival grounds cover most of Harare gardens and have expanded to include off-site theatre locations like Reps and 7 Arts theatre. I like to shop, and one of my favourite festival locations is the Global Quarter Craft market, located behind the National Gallery. There you find artists and craftsmen who sell items that vary from jewellery and pottery to Zimbabwean stone sculpture.

Some of the craftsmen were working while exhibiting and selling like the potter in the picture above, who was putting the finishing touches on a vase.

And, I didn’t expect to find Carlos Mondlane, who had travelled all the way from the African Arts Centre in Maputo, Mozambique who is exhibiting wooden sculptures at the Festival.

This year HIFA expanded their reach into the centre of First Street. Pictured above are some of the crowds that gathered to watch a variety of local and international artists bringing theatre to Zimbabwean streets.