REPORTS that Rural Development, Promotion and Preservation of National Culture and Heritage minister Abednico Ncube recently claimed that governments’s failure to fund the arts is a direct result of economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are nauseating, disgusting and a complete fabrication of facts.
Comment: NewsDay Editor
It was actually a disappointment to hear Ncube, who also doubles as Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs minister, lying through his teeth that government’s efforts or failure thereof were thwarted by the so-called sanctions — an illusionary Zanu PF creation following massive scales of non-service delivery by the governing party.
The truth of the matter is sanctions or no sanctions, Ncube’s party has failed this country on many fronts, while endemic corruption, abuse of State resources and lawlessness have become the order of the day.
In fact, Ncube can bear testimony to Zanu PF’s abuse of State resources, human rights abuses and his run-ins with the law in Gwanda, where he is feared, as he considers himself above the law.
Ncube must be reminded together with his ilk that this story of attributing the country’s problems to the so-called economic embargo imposed on Zimbabwe is now an old, tired tale that has very few takers except within Zanu PF circles, of course!
But if the truth be told, this is just a matter of misplaced priorities.
Willingness to fund the arts, even in the absence of resources, is not enough. The question is: What are they doing regardless of the so-called problems created by the sanctions?
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Surely, a whole government has to be creative and innovative enough to survive hardships, regardless of their source.
If the truth be told, for the Zanu PF government, the arts and culture sector does not matter, and that is why it has always heavily relied on donations.
There is clearly a lack of appreciation that the arts and culture sector, if prioritised and given the attention it deserves, can help contribute significantly to a country’s economic development.
Other countries in the region are miles ahead of Zimbabwe in that area and the government can take lessons from its regional counterparts.
It is not good enough just to have the Culture Week on paper without corresponding action to really demonstrate that the arts and culture matter.
Appreciation and preservation of culture can only be viable if the government leads from the front, not only by paying lip service, as is the case at the moment, but demonstrating corresponding action.
The country’s culture industries have been on the wane for several years now and unless they are given the priority they deserve, they may as well be headed for extinction, and they will be nothing left to celebrate or commemorate.
While we may use the economic challenges facing the country, primarily as a result of government’s economic mismanagement over the years, it is quite clear that the government has been purchasing expensive vehicles for ministers, securocrats and other bureaucrats, yet claiming there is no money to fund the arts and culture sectors.
The arts industry is a source of livelihood for thousands of artists and government must be serious about nurturing talent, thereby creating jobs for the talented artists.
