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THE organisers of the just ended National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) have come under fire for the numerous blunders that all but turned Zimbabwe’s premier arts event into a fiasco.
For a number of times during the awards, director of ceremonies Tich Mataz had to apologise to the audience for mix-ups on the nominations announced through the projector and the names given to the presenter.
One such example was when Terence Mapurisana was presented with an award yet his name had not been mentioned among the nominees.
Mapurisana got the Outstanding Arts Reporter (Electronic: Television) award.
In addition to the various cock ups that characterised the entire presentation process, there have also been concerns over the adjudication process.
In some cases, people who are involved in unrelated forms of art were nominated in the same category.
Writing in a forum on arts website Zimbojam.com, Nqobile Malinga, who had been nominated for the outstanding reporter for radio, said the awards “do not reflect the truth about the arts industry”.
“Why do we always have the same winners? This is putting off aspiring artists. How are winners chosen? Is it by merit or popularity?
“How can an adjudicator be a winner in the same competition? I have been a NAMA nominee for three consecutive years and a devoted arts reporter, producer/presenter (TV and radio) and wonder what my articles lack.”
Malinga expressed disappointment over his nomination against a Disc Jockey, Hazvinei Sakarombe who was eventually named the best arts reporter for radio, and also scooped a people’s choice award.
For some reason, the organisers also distributed a programme with the names of the winners even before the process started.
By the time the announcements started everyone who had a copy of the programme already knew who had won what.
Some people even left the 7 Arts Theatre as soon as they saw from the list that their preferred nominees were not going to be presented with awards.
But the chairperson of the NAMA adjudicators’ panel, Felix Moyo blamed the low key awards on artistes’ failure to express interest.
“We want to encourage people to take these awards seriously. Anyone who has artwork they think should be considered must not hesitate to collect and fill in the entry form,” said Moyo, adding that he had no control over the nomination of people into different categories.
There were no nominations, and hence no winners, in such categories as TV dramas and TV soaps.
It was widely expected that such productions as Fading Pictures and Legacies would make it.
The producer of the awards, Carl Joshua Ncube also told an arts website that they had a shoestring budget, which made it impossible for them to implement even such basics as lighting and pyrotechnics on stage.
In addition to the blunders that everyone saw on stage, Ncube said it was even worse backstage.
Standardplus understands that some artistes and presenters never got a chance to rehearse.
They were also not informed of the exact times they were to perform.
“For example, a person like Sandra Ndebele only flew into the country just before the awards, and was never given a chance to rehearse, she went straight on stage.
“There was no clear programme on the performers, all of us just had to wait attentively backstage for the MC to call us on stage,” said an artiste who requested anonymity.
There were however a few bright moments such as the performances by Botswana group Culture Spears.
The adjudicators could also get a few thumbs-up for awarding deserving artists in some categories.
Such artists include Eunice Tava (Outstanding Actress), Ignatius Mabasa (Outstanding Children’s Book), Sulumani Chimbetu (Outstanding Musician/Group) and Josphat Somanje (Outstanding Album and Outstanding Musician).
By Godwin Muzari and Vusumuzi Sifile
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