The Sunday Mail
ON Friday April 15 as thousands of people were preparing to attend Sam Dondo’s much publicised album launch featuring the “Big Five”, a storm was brewing behind the scenes.
National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) officials approached the organisers of the event to find out who was behind the mammoth show as all publicity material did not have logos of the promoter or mention who was presenting the gig to the public.
Panic buttons were pressed and Thomson Dondo, brother to the newbie Sam Dondo, who also bankrolled the event, evoked the name of his friend Josh Hozheri, as Dondo himself is not a licenced promoter. However, it was soon discovered that Hozheri’s promoter’s licence had not yet been renewed. The show was in jeopardy. But then this is Harare. Another name was conjured up, that of Partson Chimbodza of Chipaz Promotions.
Chipaz came through for his friend Hozheri whose panic had seen him drive to the NACZ offices for a crunch meeting.
“Yes, Josh is my employee, this is my gig,” Chipaz is said to have replied to NACZ officials who sought to get to the bottom of the matter. The day was saved and the show went on as planned.
This was not the first time the NACZ had almost stopped a gig from going ahead citing issues of licencing. There have been many such cases where unregistered promoters use the name of promoters with a valid licence to organise shows.
No doubt the NACZ is losing significant revenue through this as 10 or even more pseudo promoters can use one willing promoter’s licence. In fact, this whole country can run on a single licence and there is nothing the NACZ can do about it as this is a loophole long discovered by arts promoters and has been exploited and will continue being abused.
The NACZ admits there is nothing it can do about this, in fact, the arts council director Elvas Mari, accused arts journalists of being complicit in perpetuating this situation.
“I blame journalists. Our sector is a shouting one. Ndimi munobatsra vanhu ava kuti vaite chitsotsi (you are the ones who help these people cheat). Why do you not ask these promoters when they come to you saying I have such and such a show, to produce their licences?
“There will always be people who masquerade. Of course, when they are found it is really the job of the law enforcement agencies to take action. We believe there are law enforcement agencies in this country that we have also educated in terms of expectations of the sector… I once in a year interface with officer commanding provinces to educate them on the requisite documents when someone says they want to promote a show…How to identify a bonafide arts promoter.”
So what can the NACZ do? It is clear they are losing money. It is evident promoters are manipulating the system. So, how do they solve this quagmire they find themselves in?
Mari says his only power is to deregister a promoter if they have done something wrong. However, he has never deregistered anyone. Mari claims, the NACZ has secretly warned several promoters, information which he cannot divulge as “what we do with our clients up to the point of deregistration is up to me and them”.
To make matters worse, the NACZ generally cannot take action against promoters. Take the for instance, the Wizkid show promoters, X-MO Squad and company. Clearly people were duped, yet not even a statement came from the NACZ.
Said Mari: “No one complained. If someone had complained to us, that is, the people that bought tickets, we would have made a report to the police. Our hands are tied.”
The arts and culture industry is big business in other countries, tax man in other countries rake in millions of dollars from showbiz particularly music. But as long as things remain the way they are in this country, the arts sector will remain in the doldrums because it contributes nothing.
There is need for a change of attitude by consumers of the product, artistes, arts promoters, custodians of the industry like NACZ and the Government at large for the betterment of this industry.
