HomeOld_PostsChimbwido: Stanley Makuwe’s damascene moment

Chimbwido: Stanley Makuwe’s damascene moment

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By Ireen Nyarambi

THE play Chimbwido by controversial playwright Stanley Makuwe is an eye-opening production, especially coming from someone who has in the past produced plays that ridiculed President Mugabe and the Government.
It is engaging, gripping, at times tense with some bits of comic relief.
It tells the story of the Zimbabwe liberation struggle and interestingly, it is an authentic story, considering that the playwright in the past produced plays that exaggerated the Zimbabwean situation.
In an interview with The Patriot, the New Zealand-based Makuwe conceded that donor-funding had destroyed theatre in the country.
“Dependency on donors has resulted in many playwrights producing stories that please the donor,” he said.
And where Zimbabwe is concerned, donors have funded only those stories that vilify President Robert Mugabe and his empowerment programmes.
But this time around, Makuwe produced a story inspired by what he witnessed growing up during the liberation struggle.
The story tackles the relationship that existed between the masses that included the chimbwidos, female collaborators, and the guerrillas.
The Rhodies portray the guerrillas as a brutal and trigger-happy lot who killed because they were cruel.
We are told that they mistreated the people and raped women.
Chimbwido, however, shows how the fighters and masses co-existed.
From the play, one sees that the guerrillas knew what they were fighting for, to dislodge an unjust and undemocratic system.
And the people fully appreciated and supported the effort.
It was a war of the people.
A freedom fighter, at a pungwe, thanks the villagers stating that they would be nothing without them and how they are the eyes and ears of the fighters.
The play answers some questions that have been asked about the liberation struggle.
One such question being; “Can true love be found in war, where one person carried a gun and the other was unarmed?”
Chimbwido, which opens with a playful scene, introduces us to a chimbwido named Makanaka, played by Nyari Nhongonema who is strong-willed and not easily frightened.
She is playing by the river bank with her friend Mashoko, who narrates to her how she met the father of her baby.
Mashoko tells Makanaka that his name is Cde Bazooka and she speaks of her love and admiration for him and his big gun.
She tells Makanaka that she had to fight for her man as another girl was trying to win him over, a typical girl story.
She proudly tells her baby, who has no name because she is waiting for Cde Bazooka to name him that she won his father after a ‘struggle’.
Makanaka and Mashoko then take a bath in the river and rush to attend a pungwe where they serve food to the freedom fighters.
Makanaka is called over by a freedom fighter, Cde Dusvura Grada Mutonganebara, played by Tafadzwa Hananda.
She gives him some food and he introduces himself to her and asks her name.
She seems a little intimidated by his gun, but tells him her name.
While at the pungwe Rhodesians attack the gathering and Mashoko gets killed.
Makanaka finds herself having to take care of Mashoko’s baby.
Cde Dusvura protects Makanaka and they soon embark on a journey to safety.
We see Makanaka, Cde Dusvura along with the baby crossing flooded rivers and climbing rocky mountains.
We also see Cde Dusvura exchanging fire with the Rhodesian soldiers.
Cde Dusvura gets seriously injured after being shot in the thigh.
He gets weak due to excessive loss of blood.
Makanaka does not leave him.
She feels drawn to him and decides to stick by his side despite the freedom fighters having ordered her to leave and save herself.
Cde Dusvura never forces himself on Makanaka.
She stays with him on her own will.
She has many chances to leave or sell him out to the Rhodesians, but she does not.
She is impressed and touched by his soft human side when he narrates to her how he had to kill a woman who was accused of selling out.
He explains to her that it has been causing him sleepless nights.
She starts to fall in love with him and they find comfort in each other’s arms.
This play shows that true love did sprout during the liberation struggle.
She fends for him and the baby, but sadly the baby dies, highlighting the harsh reality of war.
From the play, one easily picks why careless talk of returning the country where it was ‘yoked’ gets the generation that lived the brutal experience angry.
They know the brutality and the pain of losing loved ones.
This play gives ‘born frees’ a ‘feel’ of the war.
Through Makanaka, we see that women played a pivotal role in the liberation war.
Women were strong and not helpless creatures.
They made and took decisions that helped in the liberation of the country.
Cde Dusvuro represents the freedom fighter as a compassionate human being who did not delight in shedding blood, but instead fought for justice.
The play boldly speaks highly of the liberation heroes.
Great names like Robert Mugabe, the late Hebert Chitepo, Josiah Tongogara and Joshua Nkomo are proudly mentioned as gallant leaders of the liberation war.
Given Makuwe’s background, one would wonder why he has made a production such as this one now.
Did he have a Damascus moment?
Is he ready to use his artistic genius to tell the true Zimbabwean story?
If he has turned the corner then, one wishes for more productions such as these which bring the true Zimbabwean story to life through the arts.
With more captivating works like Chimbwido, the history of Zimbabwe will not be lost.
The story will be told from generation to generation in an entertaining form.

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