Ezra Tshisa Sibanda, Opinion
Zimbabwe National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA Awards) are a national shame.
These Awards have gone down to the lowest point judging by the organisation, nominees and fooling of the general public into believing these are national awards.
This year’s awards were hosted in Bulawayo’s ZITF Hall 3 with nothing to show they were indeed in Bulawayo.
To be honest l feel these awards do not reflect our diversity as a nation but its Harare Bambazonke organisers and their artists who were bussed to Bulawayo to enjoy a weekend out and then rewarded with gongs.
They came to eat money and allowances in the name of awards.
The NAMAs have broken the trust of the artists. There is no integrity in how the awards are done.
These awards are meant to be the highest accolades that could be bestowed on Zimbabwean artists.
They should represent standard of creative excellence that marks the height of success to those in the creative sector.
Regrettably, NAMAs have devalued the honour and prestige, which the national awards should stand for.
There is no integrity in the way at which the show is being produced, the planning, the awarding of artists & in extending the basic courtesy of respecting artists that don’t come from the Capital.
According to NAMAs Bulawayo, Masvingo, Victoria Falls, Binga, Plumtree, Mutare, Bundura, Gwanda etc have fewer or no artists which merit national recognition.
Who are the judges in all this mess? What criteria do they use to award these so-called merit awards? What is the definition of merit?
How do you identify artists from outside Harare when you can’t access their work?
It’s clear these organisers rely on their friends, Harare Radio Stations and TVs in Harare where artists from outside Harare struggle to get air play.
An awards value is proportional to its difficulty to obtain, for it to be awarded one has to try harder, devote more time and energy into the effort and derive great satisfaction in achieving that goal.
Listening to some nominees’ work, one wonders how they got nominated, utter junk. No wonder Zim creatives are failing to penetrate African market.
Conversely, awards that are given to everyone, regardless of effort, mean nothing to anyone, it’s just to please themselves and their friends.
Some of these awards are pointless or of little value because they are seen as being too easy to win, lacking credibility, or being awarded for reasons that are not well understood.
These Awards are based on personal connections, personal bias, rather than merit or achievement.
Bulawayo artists that were given an opportunity to perform last night include Msiz’kay, Sam Muzik, Noluntu J, MJ Sings were given only one song to perform lasting not more than 2 minutes while their Harare counterparts given more time to perform several songs on stage.
I can’t talk of winners because it’s scandalous and a waste of time. Few of those deserved the merit awards.
The fact that big names and most winners didn’t turn up to receive those awards is evident enough these awards are deemed useless now.
The government of Zimbabwe through the ministry responsible should force National Arts Council of Zimbabwe to promote diversity and treat our regions equal.
It answers why only the usual 5 or less artists from Bulawayo are always used in state and corporate functions in the past 20 years yet we have hundreds of talented and even better musicians from Bulawayo than the ones they always use.
I have come to realise the worth of an award in Zimbabwe depends on the criteria for winning and the prestige of the organisation or event that presents it. It has nothing to do with merit.
They were even ashamed to stream the event live on their social media pages and Zimbabweans were denied to watch the awards live. Such awards should be televised on national TV station like ZBC.
Lastly, NAMA had the whole crew of organisers with their Chinese company coming from Harare, including the stage, sound system, production company, general workers, security, runners and even the band playing for artists on stage came from Harare.
NAMAs came to Bulawayo for the venue and to mislead the government they are taking these awards to all corners of the country.
These guys brought a band to play copyright music of Tuku, Chimombe, Chimbetu etc instead of using local groups to perform music like Imbube, Ingquzu, Rhumba, music of Majaivana.
Skuza, etc to show the world they were really in Bulawayo so as to promote art.
The short poetry performed by Albert Nyathi and Sthandazile Dube were the only authentic and original acts which showcased Bulawayo, otherwise this was a national disgrace.
