I HAD to be there on Monday 15 September. Up and early I struggled into a suit – jeans are my preferred item of clothing – but on this occasion I thought a suit might just be appropriate. I wasn’t exactly in a celebratory mood. Deep down I still felt that this was an unjust resolution to a simple problem – the lack of ZANU PF’s legitimacy. Mugabe had lost an election, had lost the support of the people. Now he would need to be accommodated – very much the way the National Party had to be acommodated by the African National Congress. It need not have ended this way. But our leaders had said this was the best compromise deal…

Chris

DOWNLOAD EDITION 13 HERE

View Edition 13 as a slideshow or alternatively download the PDF version at the bottom of the Editorial.

IT WAS a rare week – the week beginning 11 August 2008. It was a week in which the Higher Being conspired to bring to the fore the contrasting values and aspirations of humanity. Thousands of miles away from Johannesburg a young white woman was winning a gold medal for a country that did not like nor trust her kind.
In a building in Sandton, Johannesburg, sat the most powerful patriarchs of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) – in town for a two-day meeting that would be dominated by one country and one man. Amongst the darksuited men were two rogues – one a demagogue with a penchant for rigging elections and the other an absolute monarch with a penchant for marrying a virgin every year. As these men bellyached with executive power and as some slept through the marathon speeches peppered with “your majesty, your excellencies…historic blah blah”, the people were gathering a storm outside.
Activists from various formations had gathered outside the Sandton Convention Centre to give Robert Gabriel Mugabe and King Mswati III the red card. Maybe Voltaire was right - the voice of the people is the voice of God. You can fool some people some time but you can’t fool all the people all the time. The emperors had no clothes and you could see that the old bravado was gone.
But in the midst of the beauty of the struggle for another SADC, there was the little matter of the ugliness of the displaced foreign nationals – survivors of the horrific xenophobic violence. When the flames of hatred lit up South Africa in May 2008 the government had set up camps where thousands were housed.
Now a couple of months later the government wanted to close down the camps arguing that it was now safe for the foreign nationals to go back to the communities that had chased them away. But many were not convinced they were welcome back…This is the way our lives are. Ugliness in the oppression and starvation of our people by a brutal regime given to hypocritical Pan Africanist rhetoric.
Ugliness in the absolute rule of a monarch who bans all political activity and lives in obscene luxury whilst the people eke out a miserable existence. Beauty in our solidarity and commitment to a just and prosperous society. Beauty in our patriotism as seen in a 24-year old who could have decided to represent the US at the Olympics but chose to fly the Zimbabwean flag.
Our team brings you some of the photos that capture the above. We will be there when a new SADC is born. Afterall, we still believe in she-roes and he-roes and their ability to defeat the bad guys - whether in Harare or Mbabane.

Aluta.

PS: And oh this week in question was also one in which those Zimbabweans who own the franchise “Patriotism” and “Liberation” celebrated 28 years of glorious achievements.

DOWNLOAD EDITION 12 HERE

View Edition 12 as a slideshow or alternatively download the PDF version at the bottom of the Editorial.

Two weeks ago the great Oliver Mtukudzi (Tuku to his fans) performed at the National Arts Festival (www.nationalartsfestival.co.za), Grahamstown, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Grahamstown’s claim to fame is Rhodes University and the fact that this little pseudo-Victorian village was the site of titanic wars between the Xhosa and the English settlers. But Tuku had come to town to do something else other than fighting.
Tuku and his son, Sam, wowed the capacity crowds with a mix of old and new songs. Sam opened the concert with two solo numbers from his debut album, Rume Rimwe, and had the crowd chanting “Like father like son”. The multi-talented Sam played both the saxophone and the guitar and also showed that he can do some fancy moves of his own. But the show was really about his father whom he introduced, tongue-in-cheek, as “my brother, my friend and, because she is not here, my mum”.

When the Man came on stage you could feel the electricity in the air and, the showman that he is, he did not
disappoint. For a market that is difficult for African musicians to penetrate, Tuku has conquered South Africa pretty much the way he has done the whole world. But it was the Tuku I got to meet outside of the concert that impressed me the most. This was my second meeting with Tuku - the first meeting being in Nairobi at the World Social Forum in 2007. At that event i took lots of photos and some are published here.

When Tuku came to Grahamstown we invited him home with his group, and we spent a lovely afternoon chatting and, of course, had the obligatory sadza and meat. Tuku generously allowed me to record his show on video and we also spent time with him and the group backstage. The qualities that come from Tuku are unmistakable – he is a good listener, he is a warm person, he laughs a lot and he is humility personified. I think it is these qualities which inform his music and his stage persona – deep concern for society and the belief that music can change the world. This issue is a tribute to this great person, a great patriot. (Check Tuku’s website – www.tukumusic.com)

Chris Kabwato
Project Coordinator

DOWNLOAD EDITION 11 HERE

Tuku’s career has spanned thirty four years and he has composed 50 original albums (nearly all of them best-sellers). But it is his dedication to the live music scene in Zimbabwe – continually playing to enthusiastic audiences in even the remotest parts of the country - that has earned him the place in people’s hearts that he holds today.
‘Tuku’, nicknamed by his fans, was inittated into the world of professional music in 1977 when he joined the now legendary Wagon Wheels which also featured Thomas Mapfumo. Success came to them early - the first single they recorded together, Dzandimomotera, rapidly went gold. This was followed by Tuku’s first album, recorded on four-track, which was also a smash hit. Some of the musicians from the Wagon Wheels line-up worked with Tuku to create the Black Spirits, the name of the band that has performed with him throughout most of his career save for a two year period towards the end of the eighties, when he performed with the Zig Zag Band.
With Zimbabwean Independence in 1980, Tuku and the Black Spirits produced Africa, one of the most important albums of its time, and with the two hits it spawned, Zimbabwe and Mazongonyedze, the fledgling country founded one of its first great voices. From Independence to 1997, Mtukudzi released two albums every year, establishing himself as a producer, an arranger, a prolific song-writer and, with his famous “big voice”, a formidable lead singer.
Tuku tours the world extensively and has played across Africa, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and
the USA. (extracted from www.tukumusic.com)

I got to know Chaz Maviyane-Davies in the mid-nineties when I was with Media for Development Trust, an NGO involved in the making for films for development. We hit off just like that and spent many hours talking about anything under the sun but mostly books, films and politics. We were also both so much into Oliver Mtukudzi’s music and I think we made our fair contribution to Tuku’s bank account.

Then as now, Chaz was driven by a sense of outrage at injustice. Whether that injustice was at the level of the working person, or at national or global levels, he felt it deeply. In 2000 Chaz had to leave Zimbabwe – as he headed for the US, I was heading for South Africa. Our country had changed fundamentally – for the worse. Years later, I look back at Chaz’s corpus of work and I am struck by that same sense of commitment to a free Zimbabwe and a free world. From his seminal 15-minute film, After the Wax, to his latest graphical work, Chaz’s meta-theme remains FREEDOM – freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom from torture, freedom from hunger - freedom to be free! “Creative defiance” is what he terms the motivation in his work.
A week ago I asked Chaz if I could re-publish a selected number of his graphic images and he readily agreed. For that I am most grateful. The graphic images span the period of 2000-2007 and they were created mostly in response to the violent Zimbabwean elections of 2000, 2002 and 2008. Please see more of Chaz’s work on his website (www.maviyane.com).

In the post below Chaz’s work…

Chris Kabwato (kumbirayi@gmail.com)

DOWNLOAD EDITION 10 HERE

Presently Professor of Design at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. For more than two decades my work has taken on issues of consumerism, health, nutrition, social responsibility, the environment and human rights. Education includes an MA in Graphic Design (with distinction) from the Central School of Art and Design in London, and an Advanced Diploma in Postgraduate Filmmaking from the Central St. Martins School of Art and Design London.
Also spent a year in Japan studying three-dimensional design and a total of ten months in Malaysia working on various world-reaching design projects for the International Organization of Consumers Unions and JUST World Trust. Design work experience in London includes time with Fulcrum Design, Newell and Sorrell Design Ltd., as well as a stint in the Department of Graphic Design of BBC Television.

From 1983 until 2000 I was the principal of The Maviyane-Project, a design studio in Harare. As a result of the social, humane and confrontational nature of my work, I felt compelled to temporarily leave Zimbabwe  because of the adverse political climate there. Films written, directed and produced by me include ‘After the Wax — personal view of nationality and identity’ (17 min, 16 mm colour. 1991). This work has been screened at several film festivals and television channels around the world where it has won several awards and accolades.

As well as being published in numerous books, international magazines and newspapers, my design work has also been acknowledged in ‘Who’s Who in Graphic Design,’ ‘First Choice: Leading International Designers,’ ‘Graphic Agitation 1 & 2,’ ‘Graphic Design Timeline: A Century of Design Milestones,’ ‘Celebrating Poster Design,’ ‘AREA: 100 Graphic Designers,’ ‘International Poster Excellence,’ ‘On Edge: Breaking the Boundaries of Graphic Design,’ ‘World Graphic Design,’ ‘Design of Dissent,’ ‘Artforms’ 8th edition, ‘A History of Graphic Design’ 4th edition and was included in the list ‘ID Forty’ ID magazine’s annual honours list profiling leading-edge designers from around the world. New York 1998.
Amongst several awards, in 2003 I was recognised by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston with an award for outstanding commitment to the struggle to transform society and create a just future as well as another recognition award from Simmons College, Boston for courage and integrity in stimulating activism for social change. That year I was also Honour laureate at the 13th Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition. In 2004 I gave the prestigious Dwiggins lecture, sponsored by the Society of Printers and the Boston Public Library and also became the first recipient of the Anthon Beeke International Design Award in Amsterdam.
Besides extensive individual and group exhibitions worldwide, my design work has been represented in most of the largest international graphic, invitational and poster exhibitions from 1980 to the present time, while I have also been invited to judge several international exhibitions and competitions. My work is included in several international permanent collections in various galleries.