INTERNATIONALLY-acclaimed poet and writer, Mbizo Chirasha, has made sensational claims that his “politically incorrect” artworks have attracted political persecution.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
In a one-minute, 18 seconds-long video posted on YouTube, Chirasha claimed that he was being stalked by people he believed were security agents of the country’s political establishment.
Chirasha bemoaned the country’s long-running political and economic crisis, which he said had impoverished the majority of the population.
“Zimbabweans are suffering, they are living in abject poverty and corruption, in a country with bad governance and moral decadence as well as economic and social political decadence,” he said.
Chirasha called on the government to stop the victimisation of its critics, democratic and cultural activists.
“We, as poets have been writing about the issues that have been taking place in Zimbabwe and I am being persecuted for that. So I am telling the whole world that bad governance, moral decadence, social decadence and government decadence must stop in Zimbabwe,” he said.
The acclaimed wordsmith recently told NewsDay that he had observed that he was being stalked and threats have been made on his life.
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He said he was not a rebel, but an innocent creative writer, who is seeking a progressive Africa.
“The problem in Africa is, we lost time chasing the wind and blowing it instead of chasing dreams and great ideas. Where are we getting to? We cannot live so anciently that creative dissenting voices are victimised for apparently no reason. We need a civilised Africa we enjoy varying opinions and views,” he said.
Chirasha, who is now based in Uganda, said his desire was to live freely in his home country.
He joins the bandwagon of other artists including defiant theatre artist-cum-political activist, Silvanos “Banditi” Mudzvova, who once claimed that his home had been frequented by an unidentified vehicle, which he suspects belongs to State security agents.
He said he feared ending up facing the same fate as that of journalist-cum-activist Itai Dzamara, who has gone missing for staging solo demonstrations against Mugabe’s rule under what later became known as Occupy Africa Unity Square.
