Zimbabwe sets aside problems for festival

Blacks and whites mingled with the few tourists who had braved Zimbabwe's troubles

By our reporter in Harare

Against all odds, the third Harare International Festival of the Arts has just been hosted in Zimbabwe's capital city.

The country is beset by problems - recently fuel queues have disappeared because there is now no fuel and 'war veterans' have transferred the terror techniques they perfected in the rural areas to the cities, targeting white-owned businesses and NGO's in particular.

Just down the road at the ruling Zanu-PF party headquarters, terrified company managers are being 're-educated' into handing over millions of dollars.

One group performed a play about the land conflict

Yet none of this disturbed the carnival atmosphere at the arts festival, where black and white Zimbabweans mingled with those few tourists and artists willing to brave Robert Mugabe's third 'chimurenga' or struggle.

The festival opened with the music of Duke Ellington, and ended with two concerts - one by the most prominent protest singer still left in the country, Oliver Mutukudzi, and the other by gospel singers including Mechanic Manyeruke.

Mr Manyeruke had himself been threatened by 'war veterans' just a week earlier when he led a May Day rally in prayer.

Political theatre

Many of the festival entries, especially the dance and music, were not in the least controversial, the political content was most evident in the theatre.

The Amakhosi Theatre Group from Bulawayo, known for addressing national issues, presented a play about the land conflict entitled 'Witnesses and Victims'.

Amakhosi started in 1981 as a karate club in the house of the Mhlanga brothers, Cont and Styx, in the township Makokoba.

They built the group into one of the most influential and internationally renowned drama groups in the country, with 150 artists involved in dance, theatre, film and video.

Balanced view

Recently Cont left the group to form a separatist Ndebele political party. The Ndebele minority, drawn from Matabeleland, constitutes 20% of the population.

The producer of Amakhosi's play, Bhekizulu Masuku, says the group must have succeeded in presenting both sides of the argument since the authorities have not objected.

"When they come to see the play, they think they're going to catch us 'at it', so to speak, but then they realise that the play is balanced," he says.

Mr Masuku says that the group is important because it gives those without resources, power and access to the media a chance to publicise their views.