WHEN theatre is used to advance the interests of an external power at the expense of peace and harmony, those being used, at some point, have to re-examine their consciences.
Of late, the arts industry is at the peak of being used as a means to encourage the establishment of a puppet Government in Zimbabwe.
For this to happen, incumbent governments which do not subscribe to the wishes of the imperialist interests of the West must go.
It doesn’t matter how.
Zimbabwe, which defeated the imperialists on the battlefront and quickly asserted its right to sovereignty, is a prime target.
That’s why you find otherwise brilliant actors like Silvanos ‘Bhanditi’ Mudzvova being captured young and groomed to be the devil’s advocates, so to speak.
He has even been taken to a drama school in London to perfect his talent.
But he has ended up being talented, but nothing else.
For alas! his talent has been used to advance Western ideas on human rights, democracy and good governance.
To the West, democracy here means removing a Government that took back the indigenes’ land that had been usurped by whites.
And human rights mean Western rights which include, not only acceptance, but also encouragement of homosexuality.
Where Mudzvova becomes dangerous is in his apparent advocacy for violence.
Mudzvova has attempted to mobilise youths and communities to revolt against the Government through statements and videos posted on social media.
The festivals he has organised are all aimed at inspiring people to take action against the Government.
He is more outright in his instigation for violence in his play Final Push, which coincided with Morgan Tsvangirai’s ill-fated attempt to march to State House.
This is only one among his many plays, all bent on encouraging the removal of the ZANU PF Government as dictated by his Western paymasters.
Naturally the regime change barons encourage him by spoiling him with dubious awards.
For example, this rabid regime change advocate, Human Rights Foundation, has rewarded him for what it called ‘creative dissent’.
This, they said, was recognition for his ‘brave challenge to dictatorship’.
But they talk of dictatorship in a country which has held general elections whenever they were due since 1980.
The demand for sovereignty over our natural resources and the refusal by President Mugabe to be used as a puppet of the West has earned him this unsavoury term.
And poor Mudzvova must have beat his chest in triumph for receiving what we consider a badge of treachery.
But this is only one of such treacherous ‘badges’.
However, the source of the awards and the material that earned it exposes the cheap tactics of the West to woo those unashamed to betray their country.
Mind you, these dubious awards are not limited to drama only.
Anything that presents the ZANU PF Government in bad light, be it music or literature, is eligible for these dubious awards.
All they need is a performance that denigrates African religion, culture or the ZANU PF Government.
As a newspaper, we have a reputation for researched articles.
We know in this process, we are bound to step on some people’s toes, particularly those of imperialist agents.
We have no regrets.
We have already alluded to the disregard for peace and harmony by these theatre protagonists, Mudzvova being no exception.
We shudder to think of the fate of Libya and Iraq, among others, where regime change was instigated by Western capitalists.
Chaos now reigns supreme in both countries with the West standing with arms akimbo as they watch their companies loot oil.
And this is what we fear is being encouraged by these darlings of the West, through festivals, online productions, videos, flags, social media and violent demonstrations.
This is unacceptable.
It is therefore prudent, we believe, that Mudzvova and other like-minded artistes take an example of what the Biblical Paul did while on the road to Damascus.
Country is permanent and comes first but pieces of silver are transient.