Controversy over the government’s banning of the gay rights group Galz is jeopardising the future of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, reports Iden Wetherell
IT would be difficult to imagine a more tranquil scene: the Harare Gardens in early August; the first hint of summer as temperatures climb; the scent of jasmine and the tinkle of fountains. This is the placid setting for the annual Zimbabwe International Book Fair.
But behind the serene exterior of one of Africa’s premier publishing events, a bitter controversy rumbles that threatens the future of the fair. It is also proving an important test case for Zimbabwe’s emergent civil society. A statement by the government’s Director of Information Bornwell Chakaodza banning the participation of gay rights group Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (Galz) — to preserve what he called the nation’s “cultural health” — precipitated the crisis.
At first the book fair organisers, who last year succumbed to government pressure and withdrew their invitation to Galz, held firm saying Chakaodza’s injunction had no basis in law. But they proved no match for the Board of Censors which this week issued an order prohibiting Galz from attending, citing laws relating to the display of “undesirable” literature and a breach of the peace.
Galz has pointed out its literature — which the Board of Censors had not even seen — was drawn up by academics and church groups and concerned legal and constitutional issues.
“There was nothing graphic, let alone pornographic,” said Galz administrator Keith Goddard. “And if there was a breach of the peace it would have been the result of the government inciting its supporters to violence.”
A ruling Zanu-PF party MP, Tirivanhu Mudariki, recently called upon supporters to rally against Galz. “If Galz attempts to exhibit at the book fair, the party has the capacity to mobilise all its members to demonstrate against it,” he said in what many observers saw as a menacing move given the record of political thuggery held by the Zanu-PF Youth League and its women’s league.
Another group, Sangano Munhumutapa, which is sponsored by a prominent black empowerment spokesman who sits on Zanu-PF’s fund-raising committee, threatened to burn down the Galz exhibit.
On Wednesday Galz secured a High Court ruling declaring the Board of Censors’s ban null and void, and restraining it from interfering any further.
But observers doubt whether the board will be deterred from trying again.
While the government’s stance has been cheered on in the state media and by religious zealots, it has been roundly condemned by human rights groups and lawyers who claim the government is acting outside the law and in defiance of Zimbabwe’s constitution.
But Chakaodza told the Mail & Guardian he knew when he issued his directive that a statutory instrument of some sort would come to hand. “At the time the ban was issued, I knew a legal instrument was going to back up that ban.” he said referring to the Board of Censors’s edict.
Publishers have accused the government of jeopardising the book fair.
“We will have to reconsider our future attendance,” said Peter Ripken, representative of the Frankfurt Book Fair — the world’s largest. Referring to what he called “the climate of intimidation and censorship”, Ripken said “Zimbabwe will soon become a pariah state like Nigeria if they go on like this. Why come here when our books may be banned, when our stalls will not be protected from government- instigated mobs?”
The Publishers’ Association of South Africa is not represented at the fair because of last year’s ban of Galz. But individual publishers who are attending spoke out against the latest move to eject Galz.
Juta’s representative Gavin Cutler said it would have “a negative effect on future participation”. The government’s “gross intervention was an abnormal abuse of its host status”, he said.
The Witwatersrand University Press’s Francois McHardy pointed out that the government move was shortsighted: “This fair is a big boost for the economy. The hotels are full. How would all the vendors and craftsmen feel if the book fair were to fail? People have to realise that intolerance is actually going to affect them economically.”
Last year Galz stood isolated as President Robert Mugabe successfully divided the country’s fledgling civil society with his harsh condemnation of homosexuals.
This year the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace has described the government’s ban on Galz as “unjust discrimination” and ZimRights has said the blanket ban was “a violation of the right to free expression and equal treatment under the law”.
Book fair executive director Trish Mbanga said this week she was pessimistic about the future of the fair following the government’s ban on Galz. She regretted all the attention it was getting, she said.