Was it fair to deport UMOJA?

On the 30th of July, a total of 44 UMOJA participants from Mozambique, South Africa and Norway were refused entry into Zimbabwe by immigration authorities on the grounds that they did not have police clearances from their respective countries. Many people I have talked to think that this move was unfair and a retrogressive step towards the development of the arts in Zimbabwe.

I have received a very touching letter from Lars Jegleim who is the leader of the Norwegian team.

It gives a rather pathetic description of how they were treated by immigration officials, their movement back to Norway and how the spirits of the youngsters who were excited about coming to Zimbabwe for cultural exchange were shattered.

They did not even know that they needed police clearance papers for each individual in order to enter Zimbabwe until when they arrived as they have been coming here for the last twelve years.

The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) has put in place stringent rules which are aimed at controlling which artistes are allowed to visit Zimbabwe.

Under the new rules, promoters or event organisers wishing to bring in foreign artists should also submit police clearances for each individual artist, in addition to the usual documents.

We ask whether these rules have been subjected to cabinet debate? Have stakeholders in the music industry been consulted?
We have no answers to these questions, but what we know for sure is that it is going to be very difficult in future for any music promoter to bring in foreign artistes .

Our understanding of the National Arts Council has always been that its mandate is to promote the arts in this country rather than thwart the industry.

This year alone, several mishaps have happened to international artistes as a result of the National Arts Council’s difficult and stringent rules.
The first incident was in April when Jah Prayzah was set to launch his “Kumbumura Mhute” album.

In this album, Jah Prayzah who had collaboratively recorded a track “Dali Wami” with Botswana based Chama Girl felt it befitting to invite her to come and sing her part on that track.

Clearance was sought through the National Arts Council to allow her entry into Zimbabwe. The rules went into full gear.
The National Arts Council wanted the application taken to ZIMRA first, for clearance of Jah Prayzah’s budget. ZIMRA saw that there was no need to charge income tax. This was followed by NACZ demanding payment of $1,800 for her to perform one song on the night of the launch.

Then a further payment of $500 for the Immigration department to issue a work permit.
Some $1,000 was paid after negotiations, then there was some mix-up which resulted in Chama Girl being held at the airport for close to three hours after arrival.

All that effort and expense for an unknown Botswana artiste coming into the country for a day to sing half a song?
The second incident was when Freshly Ground was denied entry into the country in May this year during HIFA.

Without going into the politics of why entry was denied, I asked Elvas Mari, the director of NACZ if the group had all their papers in order. He was evasive.

I went on to ask him why the NACZ had not simply told the organisers of HIFA or the group that Freshly Ground was not welcome to Zimbabwe instead of letting them get on to the plane first and letting them discover their fate afterwards. Again he was evasive.

It looks like each time there is an incident in the arts, new rules are formulated without consultation with practitioners in the field.
After the Freshly Ground incident, National Arts Council sat down and wrote new rules.
Many people think that the police clearance rule for artistes only is ridiculous.

Caught up in this barrage of rules were UMOJA participants who were refused entry into Zimbabwe on the 30th of July because they did not possess individual police clearance papers from their respective countries. Last year Zimbabwean artistes toured Norway, Britain, The United States, Dubai, Australia and South Africa.

Imagine a situation in which these countries make reciprocal moves of demanding police clearance papers from Zimbabwean artistes, then nobody will give performances in these countries.

If the hassles faced in Zimbabwe when trying to obtain police clearance papers are the same in these countries, then the arts in Zimbabwe are doomed. Besides, why should the NACZ ask only artistes to produce police clearance? My understanding of the requirement for police clearance is the need to control the inflow of criminal elements into the country.

Are they suggesting that criminals are found among artistes only? If not, then this rule must be for everyone, not just artistes.
And if that happens, that will also be the end of our foreign tourists and visitors.

They would rather spend their money elsewhere, not because they are all criminals, but because of the hassles involved in trying to obtain police clearance.

Promoters who wish to bring in American artistes such as Chris Brown or Jamaican artises such as Buju Banton or Vybes Kartel will have problems as these artistes have known criminal histories.

We all hope that John Legend is busy queuing up for police clearance in Ohio in the United States of America before he comes to Zimbabwe in November if the NACZ policies are applicable across board, otherwise he will have problems with immigration at the airport.

Documentation required by the NACZ should also include a list of all the individuals, names of members of the group, their support crew with passport details showing issuing country and dates of expiry, dates of proposed entry and exit and the port of entry or exit.

The NACZ also wants a minimum of three local bands to appear in international music concerts whether or not the promoter’s budget allows for that.

Event organisers will also have to submit a detailed budget showing the expenses, the show’s projected revenue, venue capacity, as well as projected gate takings.

The NACZ is also now the police for honesty. According to the rules, the promoter has to be honest.
If the promoter is found to have deliberately falsified this information, the licence and the show will be cancelled.

The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe will scrutinize the budget and all relevant documents to see if the project is viable and if the promoter can meet all the expenses of the project. Are they not giving themselves unnecessary work?

Sam Mataure was lucky to have held the well attended “Tribute to Oliver Mtukudzi” show on September 27 last year before these draconian rules were in place.

He brought in Eric Wainana and Suzanna Awiyo from Kenya, Steve Dyer, Judith Sephuma and Hugh Masekela from South Africa and Stewart Sukuma from Mozambique. None of these artistes would have performed in Zimbabwe after May this year when the NACZ decided to include the police clearance clause in its set of rules. Imagine Hugh Masekela at 80, going to queue up for police clearance in order to come to Zimbabwe! I know what he would have said to that.

Not only the industry and public were affected by the banning of these groups.
When Freshly Ground did not arrive, the hotel in which the seven members and their crew were booked lost out on possible revenue that week. UMOJA were scheduled to give six free performances.

Several local P.A. systems had been hired for UMOJA performances. The owners of these systems also lost out on business. Bus hire companies also lost out.

A trip to the Lion and Cheetah Park for the foreign participants never took place.
UMOJA patron, Oliver Mtukudzi and his wife, Daisy also lost out as the participants were booked to stay at Pakare Paye Arts Centre for ten days.
They had stocked up on food which had no takers.

I am not sure how the National Arts Council and Immigration benefited from deporting UMOJA, but whatever it is, the arts in Zimbabwe suffered. It is not fair!

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