Take arts industry as a serious business, govt urged

Standard Style
FORMER popular Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) Radio Two presenter Eric Knight has urged the new government to take the arts and entertainment industry as a serious business entity.

FORMER popular Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) Radio Two presenter Eric Knight has urged the new government to take the arts and entertainment industry as a serious business entity.

CLAYTON MASEKESA

Knight affectionately known as “The General” among his legion of fans during his glory days at Radio Two now Radio Zimbabwe last week posted on his Facebook page that a lot of Zimbabweans could make a living from the arts and entertainment sector.

“It is high time that the government takes our arts seriously. The new government must now classify the arts and entertainment as an industry,” he said.

“It is time to qualify and quantify the number of our sons and daughters of Zimbabwe who now earn a living through music, arts and entertainment,” Knight added.

He accused former Information and Publicity minister Jonathan Moyo for single handedly killing the entire Zimbabwean arts industry and described him as an “overzealous and egocentric” minister who was detrimental to Zimbabwe’s media and arts industry.

He congratulated ZBC for lifting the ban on popular Hosiah Chipanga’s music.

“This is a good sign indeed and l am extremely delighted to hear that for the first time in eight years, the ZBC interviewed Hosiah Chipanga,” said the General.

“But let me say that Hosiah Chipanga is not the only musician whose works have been unfairly banned. There are hundreds of very good works by local musicians that faced the same fate,” he added.

Knight who is now based in the United Kingdom claimed that Moyo banned Thomas Mapfumo’s hit album Chimurenga Rebel in 2002.

“I was the first radio presenter to play that album on radio after he sent it to me as a pre-release via his manager Cuthbert Chiromo. Vanoita Sevanokudai and Marima Nzara became instant hits as l received scores of requests from listeners scattered all over,” he said.

Knight claimed that Moyo then issued a memo stating that song from the album would be played with immediate effect.

“My heart bled to know that just one man was behind that an overzealous, egocentric and narcissistic former information minister who had a terrible habit of just waking up in the morning to issue orders to the detriment of Zimbabwean media and arts industry,” he said.

He said that Zimbabwean radio, television and print journalism profession had not yet recovered from Moyo’s selfish rule.

“Why should a single man decide for the whole nation what to broadcast and tell trained journalists and editors what should go in the papers? Why would he decide for the nation and the government which politicians to publicise or not? God must forgive him wherever he is now,” said Knight.

The celebrated presenter left ZBC in 2000 after he was victimized for allegedly being an MDC-T party member following his refusal to play propaganda songs on his popular shows.

Many staff members from the ZBC and state papers lost their jobs while others resigned in frustration during Moyo’s tenure.