LIBERY Hamandishe (not real name), has over the last five years sustained his family from proceeds of his business in the pavements of Harare.
BY ALOIS VINGA
Selling pirated music compact discs has proved to be so profitable that he has been able to look after his family in a punishing economy characterised by high rates of unemployment and an equally high cost of living.
“Business has been good,” he says. “People buy music from us every day because we sell these CDs at an affordable price of 50c.”
Police officers and the municipal authority – tasked with apprehending those in his business – do not instil fear in Hamandishe.
“It’s either they are among our customers or we just pay admission of guilt fees and that’s it, we are back in business,” he chuckles.
But behind his “success” is the sweat and tears of musicians and actors upon whose backs he rides roughshod – those who helplessly watch their efforts and hard work go down the drain while pirates feed on their labour.
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Another pirate, Sam Mutandwa who operates along Park Street in Harare, confessed that he had been making at least $10 a day from just selling Jah Prayzah’s latest album, Jerusarema.
He had the audacity to claim that music pirates were part of the marketing and distribution chain delivering music to the fans at an affordable rate.
“We understand we’re committing a crime, but we need to survive. At the same time, we believe we are indirectly marketing the artiste’s music by making sure that it reaches their fans at affordable prices,” he says.
“What makes us safer is that we know our police officers are corrupt and whenever they approach us we offer them $5 bribes and they allow us to continue operating.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, another pirated music seller operating a shop at the corner of Harare Street and Albion said: “In a day, we make over $200 from selling discs to vendors as well as loading the music on memory cards. We print these discs at our hideouts and we are well-connected. We distribute them to vendors at a wholesale price of $1 for five.”
The Business Software Alliance has ranked Zimbabwe second, with a score of 92%, after Georgia at 95%, among the countries with the highest levels of piracy in the world.
The rampant piracy of music CDs in the country has fuelled massive job cut in the country’s entertainment industry with over 2 000 job losses recorded, according to Trade Union for Music and Arts Industry (Tuma) general secretary George Emmanuel.
Emmanuel said several local recording companies had been forced to downsize their workforce as business was now low due to piracy.
Top recording companies such as Gramma, Ngaavongwe and Diamond Studios and several music distribution companies which used to employ thousands of people have been negatively affected.
“The major recording companies have been affected by piracy to the extent that organisations like Metro Studios have reduced their staff complements from 150 to 20. Currently, there are less than 100 formally employed people in the entertainment sector,” he said.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation defines piracy as the reproduction and distribution of copies of copyright-protected material, or the communication to the public and making available of such material on online communication networks, without the authorisation of the right owner(s) where such authorisation is required by law. Piracy concerns different types of works, including music, literature, films, software, video games, broadcasting programs and signals.
Lawyer Albert Chambati says the law provides for both criminal and civil sanctions with respect to piracy and copyright infringements.
“The Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act provides for imprisonment of up to two years for copyright infringement and also that the affected party can sue for damages arising from the infringement of their copyright,” he said.
“The law has adequate safeguards, but it is the enforcement mechanics that are failing as there is lack of political will on the part of the responsible authorities who are not intervening effectively.
“In most of the cases, affected artistes lack financial capacity to pursue civil remedies while the offenders — hustling for bread and butter in tough economic situations — are unable to compensate the artistes, making eradicating piracy difficult. Eradicating piracy may therefore be simply an exercise in futility.’’
A senior lecturer at the Zimbabwe College of Music said what was lacking was the commitment to contain the scourge of piracy although all the mechanisms were in place.
“We need to appreciate that we have everything in place: A competent police system and relevant legislation. What is, therefore, needed is a multi-stakeholder approach which would see the commitment to deal with these issues being rejuvenated.”
Tuma organising secretary Maxwell Maengere, however, feels that such an approach is “a failed experiment” because the police and the judicial system are part of the problem.
“I admit some of them (police officers) are corrupt, but even when they present the perpetrators to the courts, paltry fines are charged or the sentences are communed to a few community service hours,” he said.
Jazz musician James Njikizana, popularly known as Sebede, said he felt letdown by piracy.
“This is very discouraging and it destroys the morale of artistes, but we need to explore more information communication technology applications like i-tunes. This will help as downloading of music is formalised so that the artiste gets something,” he said.
Sport, Arts and Culture principal director Paul Damasane said the war against piracy was a battle against values long held and enshrined in African belief systems which did not recognise copyright.
“It is not the law which will eradicate piracy, because already these illicit dealers have a lucrative customer base. We need to understand why members of the general public are buying pirated products?” he said.
“So this is a process which requires communities to be taught in order to change their mindset regarding the value of art for them to appreciate that it is improper to support piracy.”
