By Golden Guvamatanga
and Chiratidzo Moyo

THE most significant thing about the fresh pursuit of regime change in the country is that the proliferation of arts movements traces its roots to the huge amounts of money being poured into the sector by Western governments and organisations.
In recent times, Western governments have adopted a policy of ‘interference through entertainment’.
Foreign governments’ involvement entails both overt and covert actions aimed at regime change, something akin to subtle shock doctrine.
The country has witnessed a surge in the number of Western governments that have taken keen interest in the arts and culture sector over the years.
These include Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Britain and Norway among others.
These countries have been competing to outdo each other in funding civil society in Zimbabwe.
One such NGO heavily funded by these foreign governments is Savanna Trust.
Funding of Savanna Trust and like-minded regime change agenda organisations is curious.
According to a paper titled The State and Status of Zimbabwean Theatre between, c. 2009-2013 by theatre expert Sam Ravengai, these organisations are mainly funded by Western nations and donors.
Is it any wonder that they toe their masters’ line with reckless abandon?
Ravengai says;
“Funding of Theatre during the Post-Crisis Period
International funding of Zimbabwean theatre and the arts in general is managed by the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe.
The mission of the Culture Fund is to contribute to the growth of the culture sector in Zimbabwe by providing finance and technical support to cultural practitioners, institutions and activities. In 2012. the Culture Fund received US$4 million.
Its main funder has traditionally been the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) which provides US$2 million of the total figure. The Zimbabwean private sector and other philanthropists contribute US$1 million to this fund, but the Government of Zimbabwe has no grant that it gives to the Culture Fund from the US$8,446 million that goes to support the Ministry of Art, Sport and Culture.
The NAC contributes a paltry
US$30 000 to the fund. The balance comes from HIVOS, Africalia, British Council, UNESCO, Embassy of the Netherlands and Spanish Embassy.”
The Trust’s activities are defined and implemented from the perspective of the funders.
In one of his many interviews, Savanna Trust director Daniel Maposa, an arts activist, gave a rare glimpse into the operations of arts groups involved in regime change activities in Zimbabwe.
Below is an excerpt from his interview with kubatana.net.
“How Savanna came to be
In 2006, at the height of the Zimbabwean crisis, a group of us artistes had been saying that arts has a role in society. It is not only for entertainment’s sake but all over the world arts and theatre used to play a role in bringing awareness and educating people on various social political and economic issues. So we came together and decided to use our talents to define the role of the arts and we formed Savanna Trust which worked to do all of this in grassroots communities, not the kind of elitist theatre that we witnessed at the time, where there was a lack of access to information and marginalisation.”
Savanna Trust embraces works of Protest Art as the best interpreters of life in its time and effective in tackling the root causes of the problems that hinder human development.
They run the Protest Arts International Festival (PIFA) which is aimed at giving artistes the platform to express their ‘anger’ against the Zimbabwe Government.
“The purpose of the festival is to highlight and reflect on the contribution of protest arts to democratic processes.
The festival considers that protest arts is not just mere reflectors/mirrors of society, rather protest arts can play initiatory and active roles in raising issues and practices that can enhance democratic processes.
The festival, therefore, does not merely protest against past and present undemocratic ideologies, tendencies and practices.
Instead, through reflection and artistic imaginations, protest arts and cultural practitioners and researchers can ‘invent’ alternative models for democratic discourses and conduct.”
In short, the festival seeks to engage critically on how the arts can be effective vehicles for social change and democratic development.
The programme is also designed to,
‘…strengthen artistes’ capacity in tackling human rights and democracy and other issues that affect society through sharing and devising strategies in protest arts and culture’.
Other strategies employed by the organisation include, ‘…building a critical base of skilled theatre artistes who are committed to engaging communities in human rights, democracy, gender and other community issues through theatre’.
PIFA and the Jahunda Community Arts Festival held annually in Gwanda have also been the mainstay of many of Savanna Trust’s notable activities.
These are platforms for unravelling ‘fresh’ talent and boosting the arts regime change force.
Savanna Trust has been ‘honoured’ for its work by winning the 2008 Zimbabwe Human Rights Arts Award and getting nomination for the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition for the 2009 Human Rights and Democracy awards.
This goes to show that the work of Savanna Trust is being recognised by organisations known to be heavily funded by the West.
Is it not the recognition meant to cement the agenda Savanna Trust is pushing?
Added to that, the Trust, through its work, has lobbied and became an active member of various mainstream civic society networks including Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition has been an active player in the pursuit of regime change in the country for almost two decades now.
Maposa has in the past admitted to pushing the regime change agenda.
In one of his many interviews, he explains that he formed Savanna Trust ‘to educate people on the various political and social issues’.
In December 2011, Maposa, speaking to an online publication shout-africa.com, on the sidelines of a provincial launch of the International Human Rights Day in Gweru, revealed that his organisation was focused on ‘empowering people, particularly youths, to fight for their rights’.
It was not clear how he intended to ‘empower’ youths but there was more to both the statement and to the event that Maposa was attending.
The kind of education on the ‘various’ political and social issues is not difficult to ascertain.
Is it the kind of education where people are conditioned to believe that Government is not doing anything for them?
The event was graced by the then Dutch Royal Netherlands Ambassador to Zimbabwe Barbara Joziasse and was capped with the staging of a play Hatidzokeri Shure aimed at ‘empowering and enlightening’ youths on their social rights.
“By reaching out to the young people, we want to make sure that they are fully responsible of their lives. Birth certificates, national registration are such necessary documents that everyone has to make sure they posses,” said Maposa.
What was of concern was that Government was already stepping up efforts to decentralise acquisition of those documents that Maposa wanted youths to get.
This is where the strategy of regime change arts activists lie in.
They pretend to be supporting Government initiatives, to be actively involved in capacitating communities, and to be pro-gender related issues when they are in fact pursuing narratives that are contrary to the purpose they claim to be serving.
Also, the country was preparing for the July 31 2013 harmonised elections.
Even more alarming was the play they staged on that particular day.
The following synopsis is revealing.
It says:
“Written by Savanna Trust team and directed by Daniel Maposa, Hatidzokeri Shure is a forty-five-minute play, that portrays how politics is playing a leading role in the abuse of human rights in a country that is in desperate need of a new progressive government that would create jobs, recognise socio and economical rights.
The play is about Richard, a young man (Tafadzwa Hamanda) who faces challenges in securing a job because he does not have necessary documents and had not finished his secondary education due to lack of finances. His need for money to maintain his upkeep, leads him to resort to vending. In a quest to straighten up his
economical rights, it came to his attention that there was need to amend the Constitution. Richard’s parents are (Judith Tsoka as mother and Teddy Mangawa as the father).  The constraining factors in the family are that the mother is just a housewife while the father is not gainfully employed.
It is important to talk about Maposa before getting deeper into what he does.
Daniel Maposa is a young man who specialises in what he calls ‘protest theatre’ and theatre for social change.
Maposa, studied at the University of Witswaterand in South Africa from 2015 to 2016.
He went to Glen Norah High 1, Harare, lives in Johannesburg and hails from Mberengwa.
His organisation, formed in 2006 has staged several plays that take aim at the ZANU PF Government and leadership which is accused by Savanna Trust of violating human rights, being undemocratic and corrupt among other issues.
Since its formation, Savanna Trust has reached out to 20 000 people through over 2 000 performances throughout the country and at various platforms.
One of his earliest works, Decades of Terror, a play first staged in June 2007 showed immense determination to tarnish the image of the Government of Zimbabwe and provoke the authorities.
It should be remembered that this was the same year that the opposition MDC embarked on a reign of terror that came in the aftermath of the March 11 2007 Highfield Convention where Morgan Tsvangirai was detained after he stormed a police station demanding the release of members of his party.
Police officers, ZUPCO buses and properties were burned by marauding MDC activists.
Police stations were petrol bombed by the opposition youths.
According to a review of the play, Decades of Terror, it talks about how the Government has presided over the country in a ‘ruinous manner’ since independence.
Maposa authored the play and the Censorship Board threatened to ban it.
‘‘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. 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,” he said in an interview in July 2007. 
The play catapulted Maposa to instant notoriety especially with the donor community which embraced anything that attacked President Mugabe and his ZANU Party.
An article authored by one Robyn Dixon in the Los Angeles Times and also published by the Zimbabwe Independent on November 23 2007 feeds into the point that pursuing regime change was Maposa’s objective.
It explains how ‘hit and run’ the type of theatre that Maposa and his Savanna Trust organisation were pursuing was being used to maximum effect.
“In Harare, a theatre organisation named Savanna Trust does ‘hit-and-run’ street performances in volatile areas such as Mashonaland West, where actors risk arrest by police or violence from ruling party thugs. They’re designed to reach people in poor, crowded neighbourhoods who otherwise would never see theatre. The performance must be quick, sharp and funny, and the actors ready for a quick getaway.
‘When you do hit-and-run theatre, you beat drums and the people gather. You have a car there with the motor running’, (Sylvanos) Mudzvova said. ‘Your heart is beating very fast. You are full of fear that you are going to be arrested at any minute. You know the exact message that you want to give. You make sure the people get the message in the shortest time’,” reads part of the article.
Praise Zengeya in ‘Theatre History Studies 2010 Volume 30’ argues that theatre illuminates and articulates ‘precise needs and aspirations’ in critical moments.
He speaks of protest theatre which can also be called ‘Hit and run’ performances which constitute a novel form of resistance arising out of a specific political and socio-economic historical context:
“Hit and run theatre does not just entertain, it motivates, arouses and organises in keeping with utilitarian traditions,”
In essence, the Zimbabwean economic and political crisis not only shaped new theatrical practices like hit and run but also constituted the talk of the subject matter in popular theatre.
Zengeya, who writes with consent from Amakhosi and Savannah Arts Crew, defines ‘hit and run’ theatre as a rare form of political discourse that takes place in public view, sometimes in the face of authorities or right under the noses of the power-holders.
In this sense, ‘hit and run’ theatre not only is a public performance but is also simultaneously and open social protest.
This is why most of the plays by Savanna Trust revolve around an attempt to ‘convict’ Government of unproven crimes.
For instance, the organisation’s 2013 production Half Empty, Half Full was part of one principal regime change funder Africalia’s Cultural Decentralisation National Theatre Tour purportedly aimed ‘to develop new works and audiences’.
The play is about the diamond rush in the country with the aim of accusing the Government of looting gems.
It was at the helm of the sanction-induced economic meltdown in Zimbabwe that Savanna Trust, a non-profit making organisation that uses theatre for social change, was formed.
Its vision is ‘A just society in which all citizens actively and freely participate in its development’.
According to its website, Savanna Trust achieves this through working with communities in creating and presenting play performances that address various socio-political and economic issues affecting communities.
To this end, the organisation targets the politically, socially and economically marginalised populations.
These include farming, mining, rural and high density areas.
Perhaps this is so because these are the worst affected by the economic sanctions where messages to galvanise them are easy to spread.
Currently, Savanna Trust operates in six provinces of Matabeleland South (Gwanda) and North (Hwange and Lupane), Mashonaland West (Karoi, Hurungwe and Kadoma), Midlands (Lalapanzi), Manicaland (Mutare) and Harare.
During this year’s edition of the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA), Savanna Trust staged yet another provocative play Liberation.

Not even the fact that this play by Savanna Trust won the Outstanding Theatrical Production at the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) in February can dampen the fact that this is Western sponsored propaganda.

No matter the propaganda, the inescapable truth is that Liberation is an attack on the country’s struggle for freedom.
HIFA will argue that NAMA honoured the play, but even NAMA is also part of that suspicious grouping propping the regime change agenda in the country.
It came as no surprise that one publication claimed that;
A play titled ‘Liberation’ opened to critical acclaim at the ongoing Harare International Festival of the Arts.
Even the preview of the play was revealing.
It said:
A candid and daring artistic meditation on the meaning of liberation in post-colonial Africa. In this multi-award winning play (NAMA 2017 – Outstanding Theatrical Production, Best Actor, Best Actress), the vanguards of African liberation – those in the spiritual realm – are angry at the betrayal of the promises of independence. But they are not the only disappointed ones…
 Set in present day Zimbabwe, this story is a country’s call for cleansing, reimagining, new heroes and new action.
 Written by Leonard Matsa, directed by Bongani Masango
Featuring Nyaradzo Nhongonhema, Rumbidzai Karize, Charles Matare, Dereck Nziyakwi, Daniel Maposa
Liberation is, without doubt, a play about Western sponsored and induced political activism in Zimbabwe.
And the closing line in Liberation where fallen heroes urge Zimbabweans to free themselves through the statement: ‘An organised minority will always enslave the disorganised majority’, feeds into the regime agenda narrative.
Yet throughout the play, the pervading message is how bad things have become in the country such that even First Chimurenga Heroes Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi can no longer do anything about the ‘situation’.
As the 2018 elections loom large, there is little doubt there will be more from Savanna Trust as they seek to collect more filthy lucre from the ever gullible Western donors.