Byo Nama winners rewarded

Bongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
THE National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) and local mobile company Gtel yesterday presented mobile phones to Bulawayo winners of the National Arts Merit Awards (Namas) at a colourful ceremony held at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.Bulawayo artistes scooped 12 awards at this year’s ceremony which was held in February. Yesterday, the Bulawayo winners received Gtel A7006 infinity – F dual core phones handed to them by Gtel marketing director, Robert Gonye. A similar ceremony will be held in Harare next week for winners from the country’s Northern region.

Some of the winners who attended the presentation were Clive Chigubu – Outstanding Comedian Award, Likhwa Ncube – Outstanding Poet, Israel Israel – Outstanding Exhibition and X-MO Squad – Outstanding Promoter.

NACZ director, Elvas Mari said they chose to partner with Gtel because they wanted gadgets that artistes could use to produce and market their works.

He said this was only the beginning as artistes would, in the future, be able to submit their works to the Namas using Information Communication Technologies.

“Before, our artistes couldn’t send their works online because they didn’t have the means. But now, they can take photos, videos and submit their content to us using their email on cellphones,” said Mari.

Comedian, Chigubu said they were grateful for the recognition the corporate world had given them.

“Receiving the cellphone from Gtel shows that the corporate world is slowly gaining confidence in us. We appreciate the recognition,” said Chigubu.

He said he would use the Gtel device to shoot comic video clips of himself and share them through social networking sites, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.