”If I am going to change anything in my script, it will be punctuation marks. I am not changing anything else,” says Cont Mhlanga, a prominent Zimbabwean playwright and founder of Bulawayo-based Amakhosi Theatre Production House, in response to the banning of his play titled The Good President.
He is the latest victim of the crackdown by President Robert Mugabe’s government on perceived enemies of the state in the arts world. Plays such as Heaven’s Diary and Mhlanga’s Super Patriots and Morons have been banned in the past few years.
The Good President chronicles political and social events since Zimbabwe became independent in 1980. It pays particular attention to the period just after independence, which is commonly referred to as ”the dark era”.
This was the time when the Matabeleland massacre took place during an operation code-named ”Gukurahundi”. An estimated 20 000 people were murdered in the slaughter carried out mainly in the southern parts of Zimbabwe that supported then opposition leader Joshua Nkomo.
The play revisits these events, building up to the present day with an emphasis on how the country has been governed.
It stirred controversy when it premiered at the Theatre in the Park in Harare recently, attracting large crowds and provoking debate on what has happened in the country. The state media, which reflects government thinking, did not waste time in dismissing the play as the work of enemies of the state seeking regime change.
According to a synopsis of the play, The Good President explores the institution of leadership in the broader sociopolitical context. Using his masterful skills as a playwright, Mhlanga explores recent political events such as the beatings of political and civic leaders like Morgan Tsvangirai to illustrate Mugabe’s leadership.
Tsvangirai is the leader of Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
”It is a play for everyone, but deliberately targeted at the political leadership as the brick and mortar that binds society together. As typical satire the play employs humour, ridicule, irony and exaggeration to criticise the bad aspects of society in dramatic style.
”The writer’s assertion is that there is a no more vicious way of killing humanity than failing to respect and defend the institution of leadership,” according to the synopsis.
Masquerade
The government dismissed the play as the work of political activists masquerading as artists. ”The play is not of any national value. It seeks to stir emotions and hate with the ulterior motive to see President Mugabe out of power. It undermines the person of the president,” said Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity Bright Matonga.
Mhlanga denies this, saying: ”It is not part of our African culture to beat a popularly elected leader and then to display the images for the young ones to see.”
Despite the attack on the play, he remains defiant. ”I will not rewrite the play. How can a play based on true historical events and incidents and on knowledge in the public domain be unlawful? I did not base my creativity on fictitious events and incidents,” he says, according to a statement.
”It seems what is unlawful in this country is to speak the truth, even if all the facts are there for everybody to see,” he said. ”Self-expression is a human right that no one, not even the state, has the right to take away.
”In my view, there is nothing flowery and poetic about the current situation in Zimbabwe. There is nothing flowery and poetic about a political leadership that celebrates state violence. There is nothing flowery and poetic about millions of people in the country who cannot afford to put a single decent meal on the table for their families.
”There is nothing poetic and flowery about an economy of which the inflation is heading towards 5 000%,” Mhlanga insists.
With public protests, gatherings and a once-vibrant media shut down, theatre is one of the last channels through which people can voice their anger against the increasingly unpopular government.
Banned
The Good President had a good run in Harare, where it was performed for two weeks. According to the producers, the leaders of the dreaded Zimbabwe secret service attended, but did not attempt to ban it.
It was, however, banned last month before a performance in Zimbabwe’s second-largest city of Bulawayo. Mhlanga and the producer of the play, Rooftop Promotions, launched a High Court appeal against the ban, which was dismissed. They were ordered to seek an out-of-court settlement with the police.
They have decided to launch another High Court appeal, this time in Harare.
”We are going to challenge the High Court decision made by the Bulawayo-based judge because we feel it is tantamount to denying us our freedom of expression. We do not see the play as undermining or as seeking to denigrate President Mugabe. We are not going to be intimidated and we will continue writing, producing and staging political satires, come rain or thunder,” says Daves Guzha, the producer of The Good President.
Mhlanga is not new to controversy. He had a run-in with the police when he was locked up and interrogated last year over his political satire Pregnant with Emotion. The play was about a child who refused to be born, fearing that he or she would not be able to cope with the crisis prevailing in Zimbabwe.
Mhlanga’s latest play joins a long list of theatre productions that have been deemed to be undesirable by the government’s Censorship Board, which is still using laws dating from the era of the white regime, such as the Censorship and Control Act of 1967.
Among some of the plays that have been censored by the government are Super Patriots and Morons, which was banned three years ago; State of the Nation; and All Systems Out of Order. ”We are witnessing a systematic attack on theatre as an alternative voice,” says Guzha.
Meanwhile, the Censorship Board is considering banning yet another play that is highly critical of the government. The play is titled Decades of Terror and talks about how the government has presided over the country in a ”ruinous manner” since independence.
Although the play successfully premiered in Harare three weeks ago, it is yet to receive a certificate from the Censorship Board to clear it for public performances.
”We have applied for a certificate from the Censorship Board, but they are taking their time to process our papers. We gave them everything that they requested, the scripts and all our plans with the play, but they have not come back to us and we are getting worried,” says Daniel Maphosa, the writer of the play and the director of Savanna Trust, which will supervise public performances of the play.
”We are just hoping that the play will not get into the same situation as The Good President and get censored. But if that happens, we are still determined to go ahead and stage the play without the blessings of the Censorship Board.” — IPS