The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya
TODAY we want to talk about two things. Two things that have been very close to our hearts for many months, if not years.
We know these same things are critical to anyone who considers themselves serious artistes or serious cultural workers.
Today we want to talk about the place of arts and culture in the Ministry of Rural Development, Promotion and Preservation of National Heritage and Culture. What really happened to arts and culture since their removal from the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture? It seems like the whole sector was hidden, if not buried, under rural development? We say this because ever since the re-assignment to Rural Development nothing has happened to the sector. Not many in the arts and entertainment sector have met the Honourable Minister responsible for arts and culture. Not many of us have heard any encouraging statements on arts and culture coming from the ministry. There is no direct statement on the development of arts and culture that we can attribute to the minister. And this has many of us very worried.
While still wondering what happened to the sector we can also ask about the promised National Cultural Policy — which brings us to our second issue. What happened to the critical national document that was meant to spearhead the proper and structured growth of arts and culture? The vital document. We remember going as far as validating a draft document that left many of us very excited about the future. This all changed when arts and culture was moved away from sport. That is when the process died a sudden death, leaving us wondering whether the process has been real or one of those expensive joyrides that are never meant to be meaningful to one’s life. To be honest the draft of the National Cultural Policy was a ray of hope.
We were beginning to dream new dreams about new jobs in the arts sector, about creative opportunities in the sector, about proper professional growth.
Though the draft document we saw was not perfect it made a lot of sense and brought so much hope to many people in the sector. We say it made sense because reading through it, especially the priority areas, one felt this was the document we all had been waiting for. A national document to raise Zimbabwean arts and culture to respectable levels. We remember some of the areas as:
– Safeguarding Zimbabwean Cultural Identity.
– Appreciation and respect for Zimbabwean identities and cultural diversity.
– Zimbabwean Heritage Preservation.
– Promoting Indigenous Knowledge.
– Creative Industry Development.
– Infrastructure Development.
– Education and Training.
The draft document was getting better with each edition. A few touches and it would have been a perfect document. But by the look of it it’s another example of wasted time and resources.
We had hoped that the document would give proper direction towards proper and planned development of the creative industry in this country. We had also hoped the document would guide the nation in so far as cultural diversity was concerned, taking into consideration the new constitution which talks about 16 languages and ethnicities being recognised in this our country. There was also encouraging paragraphs on Government funding of the sector. Something we have been talking about and hoping for since we started involving ourselves in all matters artistic.
So as we conclude this piece today we ask another question. Will we ever have a National Cultural Policy? A working document, not just another pile of papers like the one crafted by then Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, Aeneas Chigwedere, some years back.
To many the National Cultural Policy issue might sound trivial but one day, and mark my words on this, issues of culture will dominate national politics. And then it might be too late to correct some mistakes.
