Hlongwane pledges to support arts sector Minister Hlongwane
Minister Makhosini Hlongwane

Minister Makhosini Hlongwane

Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
SPORTS, Recreation, Arts and Culture Minister Makhosini Hlongwane yesterday hit the ground running after he met Bulawayo artistes saying his ministry was putting in place policies to ensure the arts sector contributes to Zimbabwe’s GDP.

The recently appointed Minister held a “Meet the Arts dialogue” at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, with the who’s who in the arts sector from the city.

During the dialogue representatives of different art disciplines Mzana Mthimkhulu (Literary arts), Ntando Moyo (Spoken word), Sarah Mpofu-Sibanda (Fashion), Tafadzwa Gwetai (Visual Arts), Nkululeko Dube (Dance), Raisedon Baya (Festivals) and Pathisa Nyathi representing the multi sector arts, made presentations of the problems artistes are facing.

Some of the issues brought to the table were that the Government should directly fund various arts sectors, repeal import duties for the artistes tools of trade and tighten screws on eradicating piracy and intellectual property theft among many other issues.

Responding to the concerns and recommendations, Minister Hlongwane said the National Arts, Culture and Heritage Policy, a framework that will inform how to implement arts, culture and heritage policy across all sectors of the Government, society and economy will be launched on November 29. A National Arts and Culture Festival that will be held next year will also be introduced.

The Minister said his ministry had an open door policy adding that there was a need to provide enabling policies and environment for every arts sector in Zimbabwe.

“For me and my team, it was important to ask the constituency on what their problems were and to hear what they think so that when we intervene at policy level, I have parameters that I can work with that are clear on how they expect us to deal with the issues,” he said.

“I want to commit to you that we (government) need to work hard to earn the respect of the artistes in this country. I mean, we don’t want to see our artistes being disparaged unnecessarily.

“We need, as Government, to bring out that voice that situates the artistes in an area where they belong in terms of respect dignity and honour.”

Minister Hlongwane said in order to preserve artistes’ dignity it was crucial for the arts sector to set up an employment council so as to set benchmarks to guide the remuneration of artistes.

“If we’re organised in terms of our sector we need to set certain minimums in terms of performance presentation of work and published work. If we have a national employment council for the arts sector, those issues can be dealt with.

“Employers and artistes need to come up with an employment council to avoid situations whereby artistes are dismissed without being paid. We need to build those defences in contractual obligations for both the employer and the employee in our sector so that it is taken seriously by the fiscus for funding,” said Minister Hlongwane.

He condemned piracy and urged artistes not to be part of the scourge.

“As Government, we cannot support piracy. We’ll condemn piracy in all its forms regardless of who’s behind it. The legal instruments that are in place, while not adequate, should be implemented. We know that some artistes, especially musicians, now prefer to give music to the pirates and bank on making their money at shows. We shall not support that,”  said Minister Hlongwane.

 

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