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Missing $15 billion inspires Mudzvova

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President Robert Mugabe's statements that about $15 billion raised from diamond sales was missing has inspired veteran theatre producer and actor Silvanos Mudzvova (pictured) to pen a one-man, 30-minute play titled Missing Diamonds, I Need My Share.

President Robert Mugabe’s statements that about $15 billion raised from diamond sales was missing has inspired veteran theatre producer and actor Silvanos Mudzvova to pen a one-man, 30-minute play titled Missing Diamonds, I Need My Share.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

The play will first be staged at Parliament building on April 13 before it is taken to the Chinese Embassy car park on April 14 and Mbada Diamonds offices’ car park on April 16.

The missing money from diamond revenue has already caused a storm in the National Assembly, with opposition MPs demanding a probe of top government officials believed to have amassed wealth in suspicious circumstances.

Award-winning Mudzvova, who is the founder of Vhitori Entertainment, said: “I have been working on a documentary about Marange diamonds as I felt things were not adding up. I have visited the Marange community several times and the plight of the villagers in the Marange-Zimunya area is shocking. And when Mugabe spoke about the missing $15 billion, I was not surprised and told myself that since it was now public information, let me just do a one-man play demanding my share of the missing $15 billion.”

He said he wanted to take the play to Parliament so legislators could watch it as they enter the building.

“Wednesday is the question and answer day, yet the Parliamentarians have stopped asking about the missing $15 billion, so I have seen it fit to politely remind them that $15 billion is a lot of money and it should be talked about until those responsible for stealing it are brought to justice,” Mudzvova said.

He bemoaned the use of “colonial pieces” of legislation, such as the Censorship Act by the present government and said such laws curtailed creativity.

“I have been arrested on several occasions, but to be honest, detention actually strengthens me in my mission to stand up for human rights and respect for the rule of law in Zimbabwe. Theatre is my passion and I will never fear anything,” Mudzvova said.

This is not the first time Mudzvova shows his artistic prowess around a topical issue. In 2014 he released a satirical film Kumasowe that chronicles the battering of several anti–riot police officers who had accompanied Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe president, Johannes Ndanga to affect a ban on a Johane Masowe eChishanu apostolic sect in Budiriro.

In 2011, Mudzvova came up with a play titled The Confessor that tackles political violence inspired by “a startling admission” by a chief in Zaka that he actually “played a part in the violence that rocked his area during the June 27, 2008 presidential election run-off poll”.

Mudzvova made headlines in 2007 after he was arrested after the launch of his play, Final Push, which was seen in some circles as veiled instigation for people to oust the Zanu PF regime.

In 2010 he was at it again, as he planned a one-man demonstration in the central business district through which he intended to push for public officials to declare their assets before taking office. However, the demonstration was not cleared by police.

Born in 1978 in Gutu, Masvingo, Mudzvova, a graduate of the Central School of Speech and Drama in the United Kingdom, has participated in several theatre productions, including Waiting for the Constitution that was written by Stephen Chifunyise.