Music Review: Wendy Harawa muses on Africa

Reviewed by Emmanuel Luciano
Since Wendy participated in the Music Crossroads initiative when it was being initiated a couple of years ago, her artistic prowess in music has grown in leaps and bounds.
The lady artist who is otherwise regarded as the Malawian queen of ragga has been everywhere. She featured in numerous of Lucius Banda’s songs before she went solo. She has shared the stage with the likes of Billy Kaunda, Joseph Tembo and almost everyone who matters in Malawian music. She has done music collabos with Paul Banda his brother Lucius and Coss Chiwalo. She travelled far and wide with the Zambian artist of the Yakumbuyo fame, Danny K.
Wendy’s sojourns in music have seen her releasing Nowa Kusowa, Hero and the third album, Africa, which is now on the market.
In Africa the artist talks about the aspirations, the tribulations, and the love life that defines an African (Malawian).
The influence of Lucius Banda on Wendy’s music (after all she was Soldier’s protégée) is there for everyone to see in this album. Amikayele which was originally done by Lucius Banda finds its way in this album. The gap that has been created between the vocals and instrumentation in Amikayele expresses that the redo of Soldier’s song was worth every effort.
Africa, the title-track even pronounces more the presence of Soldier in the album; it has been somewhat rendered in a manner that one would easily associate to Lucius Banda’s own genre both thematically and stylistically.
Sindilichoncho, which features Lulu, is arguably the most beautiful song in the album. Wendy’s unique touch of music is defined by Sindilichoncho and Don’t Worry. Surprisingly these two are the only songs that were rendered in Wendy’s inimitable ragga style. Umpatse, is another well rendered song though it sounds more of one of the tracks in Makoma’s Nzambe Na Bomoyi.
Perhaps the fact that some songs were recorded at different studios can explain the variation. Otherwise this album signifies that Wendy is coming of age.
Recorded at Studio 762, Rhem and Sparrow Studios, the album is available for sale in all music outlets.

Convicted MPs: Speaker should seek Court's interpretation-Law lecturer

By Emmanuel Luciano

HEAD of Foundation Law at Chancellor College, Mwiza Nkhata, says the Speaker should first seek courts’ interpretation before declaring the seats of convicted MPs vacant because of an apparent lack of authoritative definition or listing of what amounts to an offence or crime of moral turpitude.
Speaker of National Assembly Louis Chimango is yet to decide the fate of Lucius Banda, Yusuf Mwawa, Maxwell Milanzi and Clement Chiwaya who were convicted of various offences.
Nkhata said it would be safe for the Speaker to tread carefully on the issue to avoid a multiplicity of litigation “by asking the courts to determine in the specific instances involving the convicted members whether the offences at hand could be deemed to be ones involving moral turpitude.”
He said the seats of the members could thus only be declared vacant if the court confirmed that the crimes are those involving moral turpitude.
“I am convinced that a reading of sections 63(e) together with section 51 (2)(c)leads to the conclusion that a member of Parliament who is convicted within 7 years prior to his becoming a member of Parliament of a crime involving dishonesty or moral turpitude will lose his seat.
“The two provisions read together lead to the conclusion that the vacancy in a member’s seat shall occur by operation of law—-vide section 63(e) of the constitution, therefore, under section 63(e) the occurrence of particular events, in this case the conviction on a crime of dishonesty or moral turpitude, will by itself create a vacancy in relation to the concerned member’s seat.
“However, the not-so clear issue presently is that, while offences involving dishonesty may be easy to circumscribe it has yet to be conclusively established which offences amount to those of moral turpitude,” Nkhata said.
The law lecturer cited the contempt of court case involving MCP president John Tembo and former MCP secretary general Kate Kainja, which led to the two MPs losing their seats before the Supreme Court ruled otherwise.
“The Supreme court in the Tembo case did not define what amounts to an offence involving moral turpitude within our local context.
“The court in that case was concerned with the question of whether contempt of court in civil proceedings could amount to offence of moral turpitude, which they answered in the negative.
“This is why I am saying, in the light of the apparent lack of authoritative definition or listing of what amounts to an offence or crime of moral turpitude, if I were the Speaker, I would opt to proceed cautiously otherwise any decision by the Speaker is bound to raise further litigation contesting whether the particular offences involve moral turpitude or not,” he said.
But Dean of Law Necton Mhura at Chancellor College said there was no need for the Speaker to seek court’s interpretation on the issue.
“Cases that are set on moral turpitude are very clear. Of all the cases that are there, it is only the one involving [Clement] Chiwaya that is doubtful. It is within the Speaker’s power to decide on the issue. Let the courts decide only when someone challenges the Speaker’s decision.
Mhura said it was surprising that the Speaker was taking time to decide on the issue.
“I am surprised that the Speaker has not declared the seats vacant but that can only be answered by the Speaker himself,” he said.
According to Nkhata moral turpitude cases are generally understood as crimes which involve conduct considered to be against societal norms of justice, honesty and good morals.
One lawyer who opted for anonymity said although the law was clear on convicted MPs, the Speaker’s delay in declaring the seats vacant could be attributed to other factors.
“Perhaps the Speaker has not been served with judgment on the cases. Those who tried the cases should first serve the Speaker with judgment because he cannot just act on media reports.
“It could also be because he hasn’t had time to allow principles of natural justice to take its course by meeting these people to hear their side because of the schedule of Parliament considering how Parliament business is conducted,’’ he said.
Efforts to talk the speaker proved futile as he could not be reached on his mobile phone.

Unaccredited universities to graduate in Sept.

By Emmanuel Luciano

About 80 students will be graduating from University of Livingstonia and Malawi Adventist University with unrecognised certificates because government’s accreditation committee is yet to accredit the two universities.

Livingstonia University of Education is expected to graduate its first intake of 36 students in September this year while Malawi Adventist University’s Lake View Campus will graduate its first batch of 42 students in November.

But both registrars of Livingstonia University and Malawi Adventist University are hopeful that the accreditation committee will recognise the universities in time for the graduation.

Registrar of University of Livingstonia Reverend Binnie Mwakasungula said they recently met the accreditation committee on the issue.
“We met the accreditation committee in Zomba. There were a few things that they wanted us to do; things that have to do with our programmes.

“I can’t say that they wanted a, b, c, because they are technical. But all I can say is that we are hopeful that within the month of June, we should be accredited,” said Mwakasungula.

Registrar of Malawi Adventist University Steven Moyo said government was yet to visit the college on final accreditation.

“Since we are an affiliate of University of East Africa, we have just received the final affiliation document. We have submitted the affiliation document to government in preparation for accreditation,” Moyo said.

Newly-opened Catholic University, whose students are in the second semester of the first year, also opened its doors without being accredited.

The University’s deputy vice-chancellor Dr. Martins Mtumbuka said they had made significant progress towards accrediting the university.

“Unfortunately, we are not allowed to disclose but we are very close. What I can tell you is that it’s taxing. Writing the syllabus and developing the curriculum, it’s just like writing your thesis,” he said, adding he was hopeful the University would be accredited before it re-opens for the first semester in August.

“You know this [accreditation] becomes a big issue when you are graduating students. It affects worthiness of certificates of the people who go through a course process,” he said.

Member of accreditation committee, who is also Principal Secretary for Human Resources Development, Samuel Madula said they were at an advanced stage with accreditation of the universities. But he could not give a timeframe for the accreditation process.

“We are at an advanced stage but I cannot tell you where we exactly are because I was outside the country.

Hugh Masekela to jazz Malawi

By Emmanuel Luciano


The internationally acclaimed and South African-born Afro-Jazz music legend, Hugh Masekela, is coming to town to jazz the two cities of Lilongwe and Blantyre next month.

Celtel Malawi Limited has organised Hugh’s first ever tour in Malawi, which will see the great trumpeter performing at Lilongwe Golf Club on July 8 and Blantyre Sports Club the following day.

According to a press statement, Celtel Malawi’s Marketing Director Charles Maye said the mobile phone operator decided to organise the upcoming shows to honour its corporate customers for the support they render to the company.

“This is going to be a special treat for our distinguished corporate customers and the public. We would like to demonstrate to them that we recognise and appreciate their loyalty to Celtel,” Maye said.

The Marketing Director said they opted for Masekela of Grazin' in The Grass fame because of his repute as an international artist.

“After careful consideration on who would entertain our distinguished customers, management settled for Masekela because of his international reputation and soothing trumpeting both as a recording and performing jazz artist,” he said.

“It will be the first time that Hugh Masekela will come to Malawi. Many of our customers relate very well to his music and we found it befitting to sponsor his tour, to give them an opportunity to sample his vibes,” Maye said.

According to the press statement made available to Weekender, the July concerts have been organised in line with Celtel’s global corporate culture of promoting ethnic arts and culture in Africa.

This is not the first time that Celtel would be sponsoring a tour of African musicians. In 2004 and 2005, respectively, Celtel Malawi sponsored a tour by Zimbabwean acclaimed Mbira Star Oliver Mtukudzi and his Black Spirits Band.

In 2005, Celtel also sponsored the glamorous Luso Awards which honoured talent in the fields of arts, culture such as music, drama, sport and media.

Celtel has also launched a special SMS promotion under which lucky customers will win Hugh Masekela’s platinum double CDs as well as free entrance to his shows.

Question and Answer with Kaferapanjira

An interview with Chief Executive of Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) Chancellor Kaferapanjira.

The Minister of Trade and Industry Ken Lipenga described this year’s 19th International Trade Fair as a success story; as a chamber how do you rate the success of the just ended Trade Fair in comparison to the previous fairs.


What we are doing as a Chamber is obviously to encourage businesses to focus so much on getting orders from outside Malawi. Each International Trade Fair has got a different theme and what we encourage the participants to do is to make sure that they focus on the one primary objective of the fair, which is to provide the forum for the businesses to find markets from outside Malawi and not necessarily in Malawi. And secondly we focus so much on the theme as well and this year the theme was, ‘Building capacity for export competitiveness’ and therefore we encourage participants to make sure that they look out for things that they lack in terms of their competitiveness, for example, we had a number of companies from outside Malawi that provided technology, that came up with new ideas et cetera et cetera and those are some of the issues that our businesses lack.
Comparing the 19th International Trade Fair to previous fairs, I think overall it was good because more than 50 per cent of the participants that secured deals, got deals from outside Malawi and to us that is an encouragement. There were a number of other participants that focused on getting local deals, too, because they don’t have enough capacity to produce for the export market but in as far as we are concerned our success will be judged by the achievement of the primary objective, which is to make sure that those that participated have actually secured foreign orders and since more than 50 per cent got foreign orders we are happy. And we think that is much more than what previously happened.

We have seen that though companies got foreign orders in the past, they failed to satisfy demand on the international market because of economic constraints. How can that scenario be avoided this time around?

The challenge to Malawi becoming an export oriented economy, I can say, is at a minimum of four levels. Firstly, at what is known as meta-level, which is social level thinking. In Malawi we have always believed that foreign markets are not necessary. We have always looked inside. And we think that we can survive by doing business internally. This you can tell if you look at the total exports of the manufactured products in Malawi. Out of all the goods that are manufactured in Malawi only 14 per cent is exported and that tells you that Malawian companies think that the market is in Malawi and then they are not astute enough to look for markets outside Malawi and that thinking percolates every level of society unfortunately and that is why a lot of times you hear companies complaining about liberalisation. Liberalisation opens up the market, opens up the economy and obviously it creates a lot of competition internally but it also offers a lot of opportunities to our companies to find markets outside. And one of the reasons our business have not capitalised on those opportunities is that they don’t look at export market as their market and therefore other countries take advantage of them. That is at the meta level.
We also had challenges at the micro level which are issues to do with inflation, interest rates, issues to do with lack of stabilisation of exchange rates, the fluctuation of the exchange ratee etc. And we have seen recently that those issues are being addressed and we are happy of the direction that government has taken in managing the economy.
Then at what is technically called meso level. These are issues to do with the capacity of government institutions to service the private sector. And also issues to do with the specific policies that address private sector challenges. In Malawi we still have a number of challenges to do with the capacity of institutions. We have the Malawi Bureau of Standards, which is very key to Malawi turning into an export oriented economy and yet it lacks accreditation, meaning that its standards are not accepted by some countries. We have weak institutions such as MIPA which is supposed to assist private sector, we have institutions like the Malawi Export Promotion Council, which is almost dead and yet it is supposed to find markets for Malawian products. And we have other institutions for example the police, if you count the number of roadblocks between Blantyre and Lilongwe you find that they are about eight and 16 check points that makes business very uncompetitive. If a truck leaves Mzuzu or Karonga and if it is going to Zimbabwe to export certain goods it can two or three days just travelling within Malawi because of these check points and that is not good for business. Those are some of the challenges that make our business on uncompetitive. And you asked why our companies are not able to fulfill all the orders that they get, some of the issues that make them uncompetitive are those ones.
In addition to institutions, we also have specific policies. The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy has outlined eight priority sectors. The so-called core sectors, which are the tobacco, tea and sugar. These are the existing sectors, and what we say they
There is need in those areas to find what else needs to be done. Value addition for example, so that there is more that is done here. We are selling our tea at more expensive price than what we do right now may be we are processing much further than we do right now may be the packing is done here before exports and those are the possibilities.
Then there are five other key growth sectors in addition to these three. There is tourism manufacturing, agro-processing, mining, and integrated cotton industry. If these sectors have indeed got to lead the economic revolution of this country, there is need for government to give special attention to give specific investment incentives not necessarily in the form of tax holidays and stuff like that but making sure that any equipment meant for use in that area comes duty free and VAT free for example. Of course a lot of machines now come duty free but you still pay VAT, which makes the machines very expensive.
The final level is the micro- level. This is the willingness of businesses to do something also. It is not all government that has to do things, that has to be blamed the private sector also has challenges in Malawi. And these are issues to do with levels of technology modernisation. A lot of our businesses are very old-fashioned. The machines are very old some 20 years, and one of the reasons could be that they used to make things for the local market and therefore they don’t care what quality come out that is something that has to be done by the private sector not necessarily government. We have issues related to that of quality of our products. We have issues of the asking price. When our products are manufactured normally our businesses price their goods highly. When you look at the prices of our goods compared to the others, one tends to believe sometimes we tend to be shortsighted. We are looking only of today we are not looking into the future. And because of that you have a very small market because very few people can afford your products and that’s one of the challenges that make our product not very attractive outside.
You have issues of training of staff. The majority of companies except a few, the big ones, do not train their staff. Look at all the textiles companies and the government companies, I don’t know how much education they give their people and yet that is very critical. If you have to penetrate the export market you need to ensure that you have people that are able to make quality products. When you look at all the challenges you see why we are failing to explore the export market. And what we believe in as the chamber is to encourage our businesses of course to encourage the government to keep uniting the people, focusing the people in one direction. The vision 2020 imitative was a good one because it was meant to focus people in one direction
But certain things are happening, for example in last year’s budget the mister of Finance removed duty and even VAT on machines meant for mining, which is a good thing.

And you expect some thing to happen in other sectors in forthcoming budget?

That what we have been informed by the minister. We highlighted this to him and he actually appreciates. We also know of the government’s initiative to create the Malawi Investment Fund to replace MDC. You recall tat there was talk about the Malawi Development Bank and now the idea is that we need the Malawi Investment Fund. And that is the government initiative. Government might not be the majority shareholder but the fact that government has started that initiative tells us that government is serious about providing specific assistance to some specific sectors of the economy.

In your assessment as a Chamber what are the potential areas that might assist the country’s economy to grow?
As a country we have a lot of potential and I think our companies just need to change their mindsets. Now that the economic management seems to be pointing in the right direction, I think that the areas that I mentioned earlier, in tobacco for instance, it is very expensive to have a number of tobacco plants but I think that is the way forward. We think that farmers should take a stake in processing plants because that is where there is more money and that would mean a lot of money would stay in Malawi and would not go outside. So we need a lot of activities at the higher level than just growing. Still talking about tobacco, our transport industry has to learn to get orderly because we got so much from South Africa. Those trucks that come here from South Africa are mostly the ones that transport tobacco to South Africa. And the reason is that it is much much cheaper because somebody has already paid for the truck to come into Malawi and they just need very little to cover the costs. Our businesses have to learn the tricks of doing that kind of businesses so that more of our transport companies can carry our goods to South Africa because they need to get more money. In technical terms you have to widen the value chain by going beyond what we are doing now to get more value into the system. We should stop at just producing, we need also to go into processing, and we need also to be transporting this. For tea, I think it is for the same we need more processing to be done here as tea manufacturing plant that would mean that there is more economic activity being done in Malawi. Those eight sectors that government and ourselves identified as having the potential to drive this economy forward are important ones but what is very key is that we should in each area move a little further within the value chain so that more activities are being done in Malawi other than outside and I think that is how we are going to move. Let’s move towards having textile plants, let’s move towards having our own garments companies that are sourcing materials from textile plants, lets have design companies because that’s how we would make money.


Looking at the listing on the local exchanger, our economy seems to be dominated by the financial sector other than the producing sector. Isn’t that a threat to the growth of manufacturing sector?

Looking at the figures, the most profitable sectors in Malawi one is the financial sector then the retail sector. Basically we are talking about service sectors. Those are the most profitable. And why are they most profitable and yet what we need is production and manufacturing in order to move forward. There are a number of reasons, One I think it’s because there is a bit of monopoly. Two, they benefit so much from government borrowing a lot from them. And since that stopped we can actually see the change now. They are trying to come with a little more products that they can offer to products. But you can notice that even right now they are focusing on lending from individuals rather than businesses. If you invest into a machine or commercial farming it will take three to four years for you to start making money out of it. That’s the nature of business

‘Nkadangokhudza’ and the reappearance of Lloyd Phiri

Reviewed by Emmanuel Luciano
Lloyd Phiri was one of the hottest gospel properties in the early 2000s before he went into self-incarceration in the United Kingdom. His debut album, Musagwedezeke, released in 2001, had the hit song Afuna Ulape that shook the edifice of the country’s gospel music to its core foundation.
Then there came Ndagwiritsa in 2003, whose Sitimasilira za Chikunja, was on the lips of all and sundry of the gospel music’s calling.
But that was about all we heard about the music of Lloyd Phiri. His brief absence, on the positive note, also allowed other artists to emerge.
The artist recently returned from exile and decided to re-launch his gospel career with a latest nine-track album, Nkadangokhudza.
Some of the songs in this album are drawn from biblical anecdotes. Chotsa Malonda (for the benefit of those who don’t know the Bible and those who belong to faiths other than Christianity) is taken the verse where Jesus is chasing the traders in the temple, saying:”…My house should be called a place of worship but you have turned it into a place where robbers hide.” (Mark 11.15-19.)
The title-track, Nkadongokhudza, proclaims the essence of having faith like the biblical lady who was sick for 12 years but was healed after touching Jesus’ clothes.
The song is somewhat appropriately rendered, but the originality of the artist is put to test because of the South African gospel beat that has been employed to accompany it.
Not only is the beat South African but the manner in which vocals are done is very much South African gospel music. Another good song that has been marred by the South African rhythm is Simfuna Zamasewera. Iwe bwera would remind many a listener of Afuna Ulape in terms of its rendition. Though these are not basically praise and worship songs thematically, the artist has included Worship Medley as a praise song.
If the Malawian gospel music is defined by the elements of South African gospel music that it incorporates, then well and good for our gospel music. But how should it be called Malawian gospel music when it sounds more South African? Save us the tired argument this time that the language of gospel music is universal.
Those who have time to follow the genesis of South African gospel music would testify that when Zionist Christian movements were spreading in the early part of
20th Century, they integrated South African musical elements into their worship, leading to the invention of South African gospel music forms (See Wikipedia Free Encyclopaedia).
The question that still remains unanswered, though, is what constitutes Malawian gospel music if everybody resorted to the South African Rhythm?
Lloyd Phiri might still be nursing a hangover of staying overseas but that is a question that he needs to muse over if he is to change the landscape of Malawian gospel music.
Recorded at Llohay Sound Control, the album is available for sale in all musical outlets.

Umodzi returns to stage

By Emmanuel Luciano

The once popular local drama outfit, Umodzi Drama Group, returns to stage with professor Emeritus Steve Chimombo’s Wachiona Ndani after years of absence on the theatrical scene.

Umodzi took the country’s theatrical arena by storm in the early 90s with its vernacular plays like Bawo wa Padenga, Chiphetsa, Akuwajika, and Mkwati wa Mtawuni.

But the group’s director Peter Kunje said they were staging Wachiona Ndani in secondary schools for assessment as the group had just acquired a copyright to put Wachiona Ndani on DVD.

“We thought of contributing to the revival of literature in the country by producing literature books into DVDs. We approached several publishing companies and one of them Dzuka gave us a copyright on Wachiona Ndani, which we have already staged in some secondary schools in the Lower Shire for assessment before we put it on DVD,” he said.

Kunje said the group, which has already taken the play to Bangula, Ngabu, Chikwawa, St Lawrence and Bangwe secondary schools would next week perform at Stella Maris, Blantyre and Kaphuka Secondary Schools.

The director also said shows had been earmarked for other venues like French Cultural Centre for an ordinary audience.

According to Kunje Wachiona Ndani, which has a cast of 15, revolves around the evils of gambling as encouraged by Abiti Selempani (Fanny Andersiki).

Kunje, who said the project also marked the return of the group to stage drama, took time to explain the group’s absence on stage.

“Umodzi had had so many contracts. We had the Safe Motherhood Project with the Ministry of Health, and then we had to produce a film, Nasibeko, for the Episcopal Conference of Malawi. The projects took a lot of our time but we are ready to give our fans the best,” he said.

Curtain closing fast on stage drama

By Emmanuel Luciano
Du Chisiza Jnr, an icon of stage drama performed in English, graduated from the Association for the Teaching of English (Atem) competitions of old. So did most of his lieutenants who carried Du’s legacy after he had made his last bow on the stage of life.
The founders of non institutional drama done in vernacular like Frank Kunje of Umodzi Drama Group and the late Charles Severe of Kwathu Drama, recruited most of their members from church choirs that enacted the death of Jesus Christ during Easter or His birth during Christmas.
But decades after most of the pacesetters of stage theatre had exeunt the stage, local dramatists, as experts say, have always modelled their plays on the works of those founders. This, they say, has led to stagnation of stage drama.
Save for the few drama groups like Nanzikambe that have explored other dramatic forms like farce (This is light dramatic work in which highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters are used), most dramatists, as experts will have it, have been hit by stage-fright so much that they are conducting the dress-rehearsals of their better plays at the backstage and do not have the courage to open the curtain to the audience.
Head of Performing Arts Department and lecturer in drama, Joe Chimwenje, says there isn’t much that is happening in stage drama.
Chimwenje attributes to the stagnation of stage drama to various factors like lack of proper training and exposure.
“The standard of stage drama is not encouraging because artists have not been exposed to what is good theatre. People say there is a reservoir of talent. But that is raw talent, which has had no opportunity of being nurtured. Such talent can’t take drama to the next level.
The lecturer says if artists were exposed, people would see the differences in imagination and creativity that constitutes excellent theatre.
Chimwenje does not spare theatre-goers for the increase in the run-of-the mill plays.
“Theatre-goers have been fed on a menu of sub-standard theatre, that’s why they come up with comments that say ‘the play was good because it was realistic’. But, somehow, they can’t be blamed for praising ignorantly a play,” he says.
The print media, too, has met the wrath of Chimwenje: “I have no kind words for theatre reviews that merely regurgitate the story of the play but tell us nothing about the acting, the thematic expression, for instance. Theatre would not be helped by reviews that say the play was a blockbuster.
“If you went into the archives and got articles of Jika Nkolokosa or late Isaac Chirwa, you could see the kind of reviews that could rest the artistic production of performance on that basis of analysis,” he says.
The absence of strong scripts, for groups that do not use improvisation, has been catalogued as another reason why stage theatre has gone into the doldrums.
Rowland Mvundula’s scripts were a prototype of strong scripts that flooded stage theatre at its zenith according to Chimwenje who only cited Smith Likongwe as the best script writer presently.
Even Smith Likongwe himself acknowledges that artists’ orientation into drama has shaped their understanding of it.
“When a person grows up and watches drama, they know drama as wearing rags and cracking jokes as a result the actors tend to overact because they want people to laugh,” says Likongwe.
Likongwe says they are few theatre groups that know what they are doing like Nanzikambe hence they are able to bring other elements of drama into their plays.
Nanzikambe’s director Melissa Eveleigh says one of the challenges stage dramatists face in the country is lack of capacity to invest in developing talent.
“The problem is time and space to develop talent. To train somebody how to use the voice and body you need to have years of training just as you don’t expect someone to start playing the piano when they had not fully trained how to play it,” she says.
Eveleigh also says people have looked at theatre negatively: “People don’t respect the role theatre plays as a commentary about life. It doesn’t get the same respect it gets in Zimbabwe or South Africa,” she says
Founder of Umodzi Drama Group Frank Kunje blames the rigidity of the drama groups to how they espoused stage drama: “We were doing things because that’s the only way we were taught and oriented. But we should be exploring and including other elements of drama,” Kunje says.
The excuse groups often give for dwindling standards of stage theatre is lack of resources which, Chimwenje says, is no excuse at all.
“Financial and material resources on their own cannot not make good theatre. We need the artists to be imaginative and creative, and the rest would come on their own.

“People don’t know that theatre is very challenging, therefore, you have to continuously invest your time, discipline, and energy other than getting satisfied with one or two productions,” he says.

The drama lecturer says he is ware that people expect the University to play a very big role in improving stage drama.

“People ask what are you doing yourself? But if people want to learn, they should be willing to contact us because there is a lot that we are doing at Chancellor College but they are not exposed to people.

“If I teach from first to fourth year, I am not able to form a theatre company to act as a role model because my resources and time are constrained. But we can always assist when asked,” concludes Chimwenje.

The stage curtains may be fast drawing and the rehearsals at the backstage might be prolonged. But Chimwenje is hopeful that the stage-fright enveloping the cast would force them to be stage-struck so as to come up with imaginative plays soon.