By Andrew Mulenga
Sitting in the front row at a stand-up comedy show
and listening to an artiste bluntly chastise and poke fun at a sitting
president by mention of name, all in the pretext of satire can be nothing short
of an unsettling if not alarming experience for a Zambian.
 |
| A cartoon that depicts censorship by Bruce Mackinnon, Canada was on display at NAF 2015 |
Under Zambia’s shimmering veneer of 50 years of
peace and harmony lies a dense layer of obscured censorship. Political
bandwidth does not provide much leverage. Apart from social media and a few
phone-in programmes citizens, journalists and artistes alike enjoy very limited
freedoms and platforms on which to air their views fairly without getting a
heavy knock on the door.
South Africa on the other hand – despite its many
problems – seems to be doing something right in terms of freedom of expression
and artistic liberties, so much that of late, the country’s biggest creative
export appears to be comedians of a satirical nature. Soon, Trevor Noah will be
the new host of the top American TV programme The Daily Show and his colleague David Kibuuka will be joining him as
one of the writers. Funny man Loyiso Gola co-creator of the satirical news
television series Late Nite News with
Loyiso Gola on e.TV, has joined the Australian satire The Weekly Show as a correspondent, the comedian and puppeteer
Conrad Koch and his rabblerousing puppet Chester Missing – the first puppet to
win a court case -- will be attending
Just for Laughs, the world's largest international comedy event with fellow
comedian Jason Goliath.
Gola and Koch headlined their country’s just ended National
Arts Festival 2015 (NAF 2015) in Grahamstown to sell out shows and frenzied crowds
that were possessed with an unfulfillable craving for laughter. But even though
they make people laugh for a living, these comedians are a ridiculously
intelligent lot whose grasp of current affairs and world events can perhaps
surpass even the most adept international journalists and seeing them live on
stage one can tell that the work is not scripted for them because they
continuously ad-lib and improvise depending on the venue and the mood of the
crowd.
 |
| An excerpt from the South African constitution concerning the arts and freedom of expression was placed on the cover of this years National Arts Festival |
Their ability to take complex political issues and
break them down to morsels of humour is phenomenal. During his show at the 1820
settler’s monument for instance, it was hilarious to hear Koch, a young white
South African ridicule the venue as a statue to colonialism, apologize for
apartheid and Sarah Baartman, ask when the sitting president Jacob Zuma was “going
to pay back the money”, give an ode to Nelson Mandela, liken his own dressing
to the rock group the Parlotones and comment on the countrywide load shedding –
yes, load shedding is not unique to Zambia – in one hour.
In fact the face of Koch’s puppet, Chester Missing
graced the cover of the NAF 2015 programme magazine alongside a likeness of
veteran satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys who was credited in the publication as an
artiste who “continues to expose the hypocrisies of the fat cats that exploit
South Africa’s complex and conflicted democracy” and “His astute satire has
exposed the bones of apartheid dinosaurs”. Also taking a place of importance on
the cover of the publication was an excerpt from Section 16 of the South
African constitution that encompasses the rights of the artist and others
stating in part: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which
includes - freedom of the press and other media; freedom to receive or impart
information or ideas; freedom of artistic creativity; and academic freedom and
freedom of scientific research.”
 |
| Pilato's song Alungu Anabwera recently landed him in trouble on the charge that it was likely to cause a breach of peace |
Also, among its many art exhibitions this year, NAF
2015, in collaboration with High Commission of Canada presented Freedom of Expression in Broad Strokes
which featured award-winning editorial cartoons aimed at encouraging visitors
to think about “the complexity of freedom of expression and what it means to
them.” The display’s foreword pointed out that: “This exhibition shows how the
clever cartoonist often uses humour or a nuanced message to escape the direct
attention of the censor”, it also rightfully stated that “editorial cartoonists
remain a pillar of a free press”.
Assembled by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and the
Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom, the exhibition, featuring winners
of the international cartoon competition since 2001 has been shown around the
world and its South African stop over featured internationally acclaimed South
African cartoonist Joseph Zapiro who is well known for stirring controversy that
has often landed him in trouble with the authorities.
NAF 2015 also holds a public lecture series called Think Fest as part of its main events
and speaking in a session entitled Satire
and Parody: The Legal Protections and Restrictions prominent South African
media lawyer Dario Milo told a packed auditorium at Rhodes University, one of
the festival venues, that although South African artistes are protected constitutionally,
there still are loopholes for intimidation, he cited an example where award-winning
cartoonist Jonathan Zapiro was sued by Zuma for R 5 Million (approx. K3
Million) for the “Justice rape cartoon” that was published in the Sunday Times. He indicated that Zuma had
used a tactic of suing and “letting it lie” without prosecuting the claim in
the courts. A strategy Milo said was meant to let the matter “hang over the
media and intimidate” Milo however indicated that Zuma may have been afraid of
facing the Sunday Times lawyer. After
Zuma abandoned the case and paid legal costs he also withdrew 14 other defamation
cases he had against the media, making it a victory for press freedom. Milo
also guaranteed the audience, many of whom were artistes that the freedom of
creative expression that artistes enjoyed in South Africa was not possible in
many other countries particularly across the continent.
 |
| Like many South African satirists, Conrad Koch does not spare sitting president Jacob Zuma. He is pictured here on stage at the just ended National Arts festival in South Africa - Photo CuePix-Tamani Chithambo |
His words could never have rang so true because as
he spoke, a couple of borders away in Zambia, recording artiste Pilato – Chama
Fumba – had a court case concerning a song that allegedly defamed the sitting
president, Edgar Lungu entitled “Alungu
Anabwela”. On 13 July Pilato was
however set free after the state dropped the case in which he was charged with the
offence of conduct likely to cause a breach of peace. The lyrical content apparently
parodied the Head of State as a rags-to-riches drunk who had forgotten how he
got to where he is. Pilato is not new to political satire, last year his song “One Day Naba Kateka” which loosely translates
“One Day With the president (leader)”, also created a stir, it was released
when the late Michael Sata was sitting president, and in the song, the artiste imagines
all the questions he would as the president if the two were to meet. Most of
the questions were centred on a perceived neglect of the electorate and general
public after the 2011 elections.
Prior to his acquittal, Pilato may have been
described as a local artiste, but the Copperbelt-based performer was
immediately propelled into international stardom not because his local language
song was an international hit, but because the intimidation and infringement of
his artistic rights – if at all he has any – made worldwide headlines. All of a
sudden he began receiving calls for appearances and discussions including people
as important as the United States ambassador to Zambia Eric Schultz who invited
him for a one-on-one to discuss the importance of human rights and freedom of
expression. So all eyes were on the case and no doubt this is what prompted the
state to just drop it, avoid embarrassment and save the courts from a waste of
time.
 |
| Your daily newspaper is an easy target, a cartoon by Habib Haddad, France shown at the NAF 2015 |
Clearly, unlike their South African counterparts,
Zambian artistes do not really have anything to protect them constitutionally.
The pending draft “Arts, Culture and Heritage Commission Bill” may suggest a
line or two that will look into the plight of creative freedoms but as things
stand, entertainers can engage in political satire at their own risk. This is
why Zambian comedians, singers, actors and painters have assumed an aura of cowardice
in their work, and rightfully so, is martyrdom really worth it? The prospect of
jail is very real and nobody surely wants to go there, certainly not Zambian
jails, like those in many other African countries they are remnants of
colonialism and have never been improved on or expanded, so they are overcrowded
and the probabilities of disease and sexual violation too are not a joke if the
stories from ex-convicts are anything to go by. So there can really be no blame
for Zambia’s creative community for shying away from their duty to artistically
criticize government’s shortcomings on behalf of the general citizenry.
Of course there have been some vocal artistes but
they are just a handful, notable ones are late PK Chishala, his song Common Man that bemoaned the rising cost
of living was banned from Radio in the 1980s, in the 1990s 2wices Tomato Balunda (Tomato prices are up)
received the same treatment, in the 2000s a young duo called Impi -- Jordan Sinkala Kedrick Kafula --
released corruption-bashing hits Bantalamisoka
and Ba Sakalanyonga that beckoned
leaders to stop thieving. In one incidence the duo narrowly escaped with their
lives when attacked by members of a political party, top Zambian dancehall
artiste Petersen Zagaze – real name Mukubesa Mundia – is also known for
prodding politicians with eye-opening lyrics although his strong messages are
often lost in his creativity and people end up dancing instead of listening to
the sense that he is voicing. When it comes to the comedians, well they appear
to have found a comfort zone in satirizing low hanging fruit like prostitution.
As for the visual artists, only cartoonists such as this newspaper’s resident
gagman Choklet Roy Kazembe or the uncompromisingly direct Kiss Brian Abrahams
have managed to stand their satirical ground politically, and sitting
presidents have never been spared.
As for press freedom, for fear of intimidation, Zambian
journalists, just like the artistes have been reduced to the point of
mediocrity, except for them, the prospect of jail is perhaps greater. In his
20-something-years career in the media, the award-winning editor of this
newspaper Fred M’membe has been in and out of jail several times under
different governments and it is just last week on Friday that he was released
on bail after spending a night in custody. M’membe and reporter Mukosha Funga were
granted a K60, 000 bail by a Lusaka Magistrates Court in a case in which they
had been charged for a story the paper ran on April 17 which indicated that the
Anti-Corruption Commission Director General had written to Lungu informing him
that presidential aide Kaizer Zulu was being investigated for a US$ 1 million bribe
from a Chinese contractor in order for him to fix an appointment with the President.
The state objected the bail application but Magistrate Humphrey Chitalu
dismissed this noting it was ill conceived. The case has been adjourned to
August, 17 for mention.
No comments:
Post a Comment