New plays attack Mugabe

Despite concerted efforts by the Zimbabwe Government to muzzle critical voices, Zimbabwean theatre never runs dry of politically sensitive plays.

A new play, "The two leaders I know" premiered at the recently concluded Harare International Festival of arts (HIFA). The one-man stage production acted by talented actor and theatre producer Daves Guzha is both sharply satirical and a moving personal evaluation of the political consequences of Ian Smith, the last leader of rebel Rhodesia and Robert Mugabe the current leader of Zimbabwe currently fighting with all he has to remain the leader of Zimbabwe.

The play explores the wars, riots, sanctions, food shortages, price controls and life in general under the rule of these two leaders. It captures what goes on in the mind of the protagonist as he celebrates his birthday alone. His friends and family can not be with him because they busy in all sorts of queues. His girlfriend is at the bank and fails to get money so she fails to make it to the birthday party. The protagonist says rather fittingly "Dictatorial leaders keep you busy all the time to a point that you can  find neither the time nor the energy to rise up against injustice".

The play co-written by veteran playwright and former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education and Culture Dr. Stephen Chifunyise and equally renowned playwright Raisedon Baya, is directed by Swede Helge Skoog and produced by the controversial Cont Mhlanga of Bulawayo's Amakhosi theatre.

Another play critical of Mugabe's Governance of Zimbabwe is "The crocodile of the Zambezi"  will premier at the forthcoming Umthwakazi Arts Festival to be held in the so-called Zimbabwe's culture capital city Bulawayo on 19 May 2008.The play co-written by Raisedon Baya and up-and -coming playwright Christopher Mlalazi, explores a day in the life of an aging leader of a troubled fictional country along the Zambezi river beset by personal and professional problems. On the occasion of his 94th birthday, the aging leader celebrates by proclaiming a general amnesty for all political prisoners. Among the released prisoners is his main political enemy, a man the aging leader has kept in jail for a long time.

As fate would have it, a train is commandeered for the birthday celebrations of the aging President and it happens that the leader meets his main political enemy on the commandeered train. An argument ensues between the bitter political adversaries particularly on such issues as succession, retirement and the leadership crisis.

"The time is now ripe for this kind of play because we should keep reminding ourselves and those that lead us that it is unacceptable for us to be prisoners in our own homes", said Baya. "This project has taken a long time and courage to create.We started working on the project two years ago but we tomporarily shelved it because  felt the atmosphere was not safe enough for us to come up with such critical work", he added.

"The two leaders I know" and "The cocodile of the Zambezi"  join a long list of plays critical of President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle who stand accused of destroying the once vibrant Zimbabwean economy through populist policies.These critical plays of recent times include the controversial "The Good President" penned by Cont Mhlanga who is generally credited to have created the first play critical of Robert Mugabe's Government in the early Eighties at a time when criticism of the establishment was a taboo. The play was called "Workshop Negative". Another Bulawayo-based playwright Raisedon Baya who co-authored "The two leaders I know" has also written plays critical pof Mugabe such as "Super patriots and morons" and the forthcoming "The crocodile of the Zambezi".