By Farayi Mungoshi

ARTISTES were left with something to ponder on and talk about after meeting the Minister of Sport, Arts and Recreation Cde Kazembe Kazembe at the Arts Centre in Chitungwiza last week.
Some came out of the meeting smiling and hoping for a better tomorrow while others were sceptical, saying they had heard it all before: “Nobody ever takes us seriously, that’s why zvema drama kana magitare zvichingonzi ndezvechirombe,” they said.
Indeed, when one compares the arts and sporting industry of Zimbabwe to that of neighbouring South Africa or even Nigeria, there is no mistaking the huge difference.
While Zimbabwean artistes and sports personalities can barely make a living out of their fields, those in South Africa and Nigeria are enjoying lavish lifestyles from doing the same things such that we have had lots of our own talent going abroad for better remuneration.
Having been involved in television and film for a number of years, I must confess that I am yet to come across one Zimbabwe-based actor/actress who is happy with the financial rewards in the field. And as such, when one of the artistes to the meeting got up to talk about piracy, I understood his plight.
There was no mistaking the pain he has endured at the hands of vendors/pirates; imagine after putting all your effort and resources in producing a music CD, somebody decides to copy and sell it for a dollar on the streets and when the police catch him/her, the culprit gets off with a US$20 fine! The same problem is faced by filmmakers and writers.
Artistes have lost thousands of dollars to vendors, but their cry seems to go unheard.
This is the kind of monster Minister Kazembe Kazembe has to fight if he is to make a difference, given his 100-day plan.
Already he agrees that whoever should be found pirating should be given a stiffer deterrent penalty than the current US$20 fine.
But he was frank enough to concede that the piracy issue is unlikely to go away completely despite measures being taken to curb the crime. He said this was due to ever changing and fast growing technology which allows people to access artistes’ music or film on the internet.
Among those who attended were notable musicians Pastor Charles Charamba, Baba Manyeruke and filmmakers, Jesesi Mungoshi, Munya Chidzonga, Eddie Sandifolo, Joe Njagu, Daves Guzha, Oliver Mtukudzi and Susan Makore.
Elvas Mari of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe was there with his team.
Though the meeting went well and opened up a channel of communication between Government and artistes, not everyone got a chance to air their views and make comments because time would not permit.
Some of the questions raised by artistes that could not be addressed by the Minister include the issue regarding publishing houses that have closed, like Baobab Books, that still has books for example, Walking Still, Stories from a Shona Childhood legally bound to them by contract despite they are no longer printing/publishing books thereby disadvantaging writers who survive on royalties.
Longman also closed down.
In most cases, you would also find that some of the publishing houses closed down without even informing the writers, leaving them in limbo.
Veteran actress Jesesi Mungoshi requested for a closer relationship between Government and filmmakers arguing that some governments, for example those from Scandinavia, offer producers seed money (10 percent) to make movies.
“Government could set up an exercise through which they pick up a few film scripts they feel have something to offer for the good of the nation, that way we would know that we have support,” she said.
From the US$65-million-dollar budget request made by the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Recreation, the Minister confirmed they got around US$11,1 million and as such it is hard to meet all the needs of the industry.
However, he said a fund shall be set up or rather revived. It is through that fund that artistes shall receive assistance; for example, Guspy Warrior (Emanuel Manyeruke) who’s schedulled to go to the US to receive a Ragga Award (Africa) needs assistance with travel and accommodation expenses.