News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Comedy thrives in Zimbabwe's dark times

Posted: 19 Sep 2016 11:55 PM PDT

Zimbabwe's economy is falling apart, and there's a crackdown on anti-government protests. But the country's comedy scene is booming. [VIDEO]

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Harare - Zimbabwe's economy is falling apart, and police are cracking down on growing anti-government protests. But the country's comedy scene is booming. No subject seems taboo.

Even 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe, widely accused of muzzling free speech, is a target.

Insulting the president can bring a one-year jail term. Nonetheless, the comedians carry on, becoming bolder as fears of speaking out begin to erode.

In one skit at a show on Thursday called State Of The Nation, an actor playing the first lady, 51-year-old Grace Mugabe, lays her stake to the presidency on hearing the news of the "death" of her husband, the world's oldest head of state.

"I deserve it. Were any of you cleaning his nappy and wiping the spit off his chin?" she says. She also talks up her own chances of winning elections.

"We have always won, even when I was pushing the old man in a wheelbarrow," she says, a reference to the real first lady's comment at a political rally last year: "I will push President Mugabe in the wheelbarrow to bring him to work."

Near the end, a fake Mugabe emerges, struggling to walk while scoffing at rumours of his demise. Some in the audience laugh. Others gasp. The real president has joked at the persistent rumours, telling reporters earlier this month: "It is true that I was dead. And I resurrected. As I always do."

The comedy show played to a packed audience in Harare. State Of The Nation will be a fortnightly show streaming live on internet, said organiser Davis Guzha, director of Rooftop Promotions.

"Comedy allows us to laugh but also to think about our problems at the same time," said Sam Monro, or Comrade Fatso, a stand-up comedian who runs Zambezi News, a satirical social media show on current affairs.

In everyday life, the state of this once-prosperous country's economy and politics is hardly a laughing matter. Government has failed to pay its close to 300,000 workers, including the military, on time since June.

Industries are closing down, worsening unemployment where more than two-thirds of the population of 13 million survive on informal work, according to the African Development Bank. People line up for hours at banks to access their money as currency woes deepen.

The speculation over the health of Mugabe, this country's only leader since independence from white minority rule in 1980, has only heightened the uncertainty.

Near daily anti-government protests are often met with brute force by police.

Yet amid their troubles, Zimbabweans are still laughing at life and at themselves.

While comedy shows attract an upper-class crowd, ordinary people flood social media with jokes, images and video selfies poking fun at the growing problems.

"It has allowed Zimbabweans to deal with a lot of taboo issues," Comrade Fatso told The Associated Press at his offices at Moto Republic, a structure of former shipping containers that houses dozens of artists.

But the politically charged material comes with risk.

A local actor, Silvanos Mudzvova, was arrested in April for trying to stage a play scripted on Mugabe's statement that at least $15 billion had been looted from a diamond-rich region by joint-venture companies mining there.

On Thursday, Mudzvova spoke to the AP from a hospital bed in Harare.

"I was tortured," he said. "Six men took me from my home on Tuesday night. They threatened to shoot my family before taking me away." The actor, who is also an activist, said he was given electric shocks by men who demanded information on his activities.

Others have been brought to court on insult charges for making and circulating jokes about the president.

Still, comedy shows have become a staple in the capital. The Shoko Festival for comedy and music is set for later this month.

"We are using comedy as a tool not just to inform but as information for action, using comedy to encourage young people to be active and to be part of movements that are changing our country for the better," Comrade Fatso said.

One of the growing number of young stand-up comedians is Nqobizitha Dube, or Q Boss, who last month took aim at Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko's 19-month-stay in a $400-a-night hotel suite amid Zimbabwe's widespread poverty.

"Everybody please clap your hands . We want to thank the VP for allowing us to use his living room for the night," the comic said, to raptures of laughter, while opening his act in one of the hotel's auditoriums.

AP

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17 dead after Congo anti-government march turns violent

Posted: 19 Sep 2016 12:58 PM PDT

Three policemen and 14 civilians died after police and anti-government protesters clashed during a march against President Joseph Kabila.

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Kinshasa - At least 17 people, including three policemen, were killed when Congolese police and anti-government protesters clashed in the capital Kinshasa on Monday during a march against President Joseph Kabila and what the protesters see as his bid to extend his mandate.

The protest, attended by thousands, came at a time of growing local and international pressure on Kabila to step down when his term of office legally ends in December.

The opposition accuses him of plotting to extend his tenure by delaying elections that were supposed to be held in November until at least next year. His supporters deny this.

“Officially, we have 17 dead in Kinshasa: three police and 14 civilians,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Claude Pero Luwara.

Earlier, a Reuters witness saw a crowd burning the body of a police officer in the Kinshasa suburb of Limete in an apparent act of retaliation for police gunfire.

Angry crowds tore down photographs of Kabila, chanting in French: “it's over for you” and “we don't want you”.

Georges Kapiamba, director of the Congolese Association For Access to Justice, a local non-governmental organisation, said that security forces shot dead twenty-five protesters.

Rights groups reported dozens of arrests of protesters and journalists in the capital as well as in Goma and Kisangani, where anti-government marches also took place.

A government spokesman confirmed the detention of opposition leader Martin Fayulu, who suffered a head injury during the march.

By mid-afternoon, most protesters had been dispersed and the streets in the normally bustling city centre were quiet.

Monday's march was sparked by anger over a decision by the election commission last week to petition the constitutional court to postpone the next presidential vote.

The vast, mineral-rich central African state has never seen a peaceful transition of power. Western observers and donors fear that growing political instability could mushroom into armed conflict in a country plagued by militias, especially in its lawless eastern regions.

Millions of people died in regional wars in Congo between 1996 and 2003 that drew in armies from half a dozen countries.

Opposition leaders had planned to file an official petition against the decision before the clashes began. The police said in a statement that officers had been warned to use restraint, adding that it would punish those who do not comply.

Dozens of people died in similar protests against Kabila last year. Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Monday that the clashes were preceded by intensified government repression.

“Today's (Monday’s) march shows that the security forces have not switched their tactics and are still clamping down on anyone opposed to Kabila,” said Ida Sawyer, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“People want their constitution to be respected and are willing to risk their lives to make sure that happens.” She added that three children were shot in Goma during the clashes.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Monday described the situation in Congo as “extremely worrying and very dangerous”, adding that European nations will discuss the possibility of imposing sanctions.

The United States has already threatened sanctions against political figures in Congo over electoral delays. A senior adviser to Kabila has pleaded to Washington not to.

The U.S. embassy said on its Twitter feed that it was “outraged” by the harassment of its special envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Thomas Perriello, at Kinshasa's airport.

Congo's “Presidential Majority”, as Kabila's supporters call themselves, had accused Perriello, in a Sunday statement, of jeopardising talks aimed at resolving Congo's political crisis.

Reuters

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At least four dead in Congo protest

Posted: 19 Sep 2016 11:06 AM PDT

Two police officers and two civilians were killed after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital.

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Kinshasa - Witnesses say at least four people are dead after opposition protests against a delayed presidential election turned violent in Congo's capital.

An Associated Press photographer saw at least four bodies Monday after demonstrators hurled rocks and police fired tear gas in the streets.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende says two police officers and two civilians were killed.

The protests were organised by activists who are opposed to longtime President Joseph Kabila, who is now expected to stay in office after his mandate ends in December.

The country's electoral commission has said it won't be possible to hold the vote as scheduled in November.

The constitution allows Kabila to stay in power until another vote can be organised.

AP

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Tourist killed by elephant in Kenyan national park

Posted: 19 Sep 2016 04:51 AM PDT

An Italian tourist was trampled to death by an elephant while photographing the animal at the Tsavo National Park, police say.

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Mombasa - An Italian tourist was trampled to death by an elephant while photographing the animal at the Tsavo National Park near the Kenyan coastal town of Malindi on Sunday, police said.

Malindi police boss Muchangi Mutava said on Monday that the 66-year-old man was attacked by the elephant near the Swara Camp he stayed in on the Kulalu ranch in the park.

The tourist spotted the elephant at a water point a few metres from the camp.

"He... proceeded to the water point and started taking pictures, provoking the elephant that charged towards him and attacked him, seriously wounding him," Mutava said.

Workers at the camp responded immediately and managed to chase way the elephant but he died while awaiting to be airlifted to a hospital in Malindi, according to the police officer.

Xinhua

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Man held for nude pic of Botswana president

Posted: 19 Sep 2016 03:56 AM PDT

Police in Botswana have arrested the alleged creator of the controversial photo-shopped image of a nude President Seretse Khama Ian Khama.

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Gaborone - Police in Botswana have arrested the alleged creator of the controversial photo-shopped image of a nude President Seretse Khama Ian Khama, which caused a furore across the country last week.

Botswana Police Service (BPS) spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Witness Boseja said the 36-year-old man was arrested in the northern city of Maun on Friday. He has since been flown to the capital Gaborone where he remains in detention.

Assistant Commissioner Boseja said the suspect, who is a computer technician at the statutory Water Utilities Corporation (WUC), will appear in court shortly to face charges that are yet to be defined.

Reports from Maun said after being arrested at his workplace, the suspect was taken to his home where security agents seized computers and other equipment they believe could have been used in generating the image, which the Office of the President has angrily described as "offensive and derogatory by any standard".

The picture, which purports to show a naked President Khama standing in front of Parliament Building on the occasion of the 50th independence anniversary, has generated heated public debate across the country with widespread condemnation, while others defended as freedom of speech and political expression.

The Office of the President slammed the graphic image as a typical example of abuse of the freedom of speech and warned that the law would take its course against the originator of the work.

African News Agency

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Kabila must go, Congo protests demand

Posted: 19 Sep 2016 03:43 AM PDT

Police fired tear gas at opposition supporters rallying in Kinshasa to demand that the DRC President Joseph Kabila step down this year.

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Kinshasa - Police fired tear gas Monday at scores of opposition supporters rallying in Kinshasa to demand that the Democratic Republic of Congo's long-serving President Joseph Kabila step down this year, AFP journalists said.

The police action came after youths shouting "Kabila get out", and "Kabila has to go", threw stones at police on Lumumba boulevard, an arterial avenue in the heart of the city.

They waved the blue-and-white flags of veteran Congolese opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, 83, who returned to DR Congo in July after a two-year absence.

Prior to the clashes, opposition activists also burnt a photograph of the leader and torched a minibus and a car in the Limete quarter, from where the demonstration was due to start at 1pm (1200 GMT).

Kabila, who has ruled DR Congo since 2001, is banned under the constitution from running again -- but he has given no sign of intending to give up his job in December.

No elections have been announced and it would be practically impossible to organise a poll in the time left before his mandate runs out.

Protests erupted after the Constitutional Court ruled in May that Kabila, who took power after his father Laurent Kabila's assassination, could remain in office in a caretaker capacity beyond the end of the mandate.

Tshisekedi is an immensely popular figure who emerged as a leading dissenting voice as far back as the 1980s, when he was a critic of strongman Mobutu Sese Seko.

He has now accomplished the rare feat of uniting the Congolese opposition, which has never before managed to forge a common front against Kabila, who beat Tshisekedi in the last presidential election in 2011.

In June, another leading light of the opposition, Moise Katumbi, was sentenced in absentia to three years in jail for property fraud.

The presiding judge in the case has since claimed she was pressured by the authorities into signing off on a guilty verdict, to ensure Katumbi would be ineligible to run for office, according to a letter seen by AFP.

The UN on Friday said at least 16 opposition activists had been detained in Kinshasa after meeting to discuss how to stop Kabila illegally prolonging his stay in power.

Rights group Amnesty International had on Thursday accused authorities in mineral-rich DR Congo of "systematic repression" of those seeking Kabila's departure when his third term runs out on December 20.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende said he was surprised by the accusations, adding that authorities had freed several political prisoners in August.

AFP

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Drug shortages stop operations at Zim hospital

Posted: 19 Sep 2016 02:56 AM PDT

A top Zimbabwean hospital has been hit by crippling drug shortages, forcing authorities to suspend all but a few surgical operations.

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Harare - A top Zimbabwean hospital has been hit by crippling drug shortages, forcing authorities to suspend all but a few surgical operations at the institution.

Harare Central Hospital, which is the country's second biggest health institution, said it had decided to suspend all surgeries for the time being, save for a few.

This was contained in a memo signed by anaesthetics head of department, Harunavamwe Notburga Chifamba, and dated September 16, 2016, and addressed to the institution's clinical director, chief executive officer, principal nursing officer, theatre matron and board chairperson.

"Due to the critical shortages of pethidine, injectable morphine, fentanyl, adrenaline, ..., metoclopramide, sodium bicarbonate and antibiotics, it was decided after consultation with the clinical director, heads of surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology and consultant anaesthetics that we suspend all elective surgeries for the time being," the anaesthetics head wrote.

Chifamba said they would only concentrate on maternity, CEPOD [Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death] theatre emergencies, as well as intensive care unit.

He added: "This is to allow the hospital to restock on these essential items. We will also use this opportunity to train nurses on the wards on the use of morphine and tramadol injection for post-operative pain. These (morphine and tramadol) are going to be the backbone of post-operative pain management henceforth."

Chifamba said the move to suspend most surgeries was an attempt to restock on the essential medication.

"The stocks situation will be reviewed in the middle of next week, as the administration, finance department and pharmacy are making frantic efforts at restocking pharmacy."

African News Agency

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'Buhari can be a name given to any living creature'

Posted: 19 Sep 2016 01:28 AM PDT

A Nigerian man whose pet dog has the same name as Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has asked a court to dismiss criminal charges against him.

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Lagos, Nigeria - A Nigerian man whose pet dog has the same name as Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday asked the court to dismiss criminal charges against him.

In a statement sent by his lawyer, the owner of 'Buhari' the dog Joachim Iroko said he had a "legal right" to name his pet whatever he wanted.

"The name is not exclusive to the president, Buhari can just be a name given to any living creature just for identity," Iroko's lawyer Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa told AFP.

Iroko appeared in court Ota in the southwest state of Ogun in August after being charged with "conduct likely to cause breach of peace" after naming his dog Buhari, Adegboruwa said.

He was due back in court on Monday, September 19.

Police allege, however, that Iroko wrote the name Buhari on the sides of his dog to antagonise his neighbour, whose father's name is Buhari.

"The man was not arrested for naming the dog Buhari but the conduct surrounding the attitude or the actions of the man," Ogun state police spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi told AFP.

"The man has been having issues with one of his neighbours whose father's name is Buhari, it has nothing to do with the president."

Iroko denies the claims, with Adegboruwa saying that the animal was usually chained near his warehouse to deter thieves.

Adegboruwa says that the four-legged Buhari, a chocolate-brown coloured dog, has now gone missing.

"We are all looking for the dog," Adegboruwa said, "maybe it is with the police, we still don't know".

The lawyer said that he hoped that the government would drop the "frivolous" case.

AFP

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Mujuru thanks SA for hosting Zimbabweans

Posted: 19 Sep 2016 12:47 AM PDT

Zimbabweans living in South Africa should remember that the current phase will pass, says Joice Mujuru, leader of the opposition party Zimbabwe People First.

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Pretoria - Zimbabweans living in South Africa and other countries should always remember that the current phase will pass, Joice Mujuru, leader of the opposition party Zimbabwe People First, said on Saturday.

Mujuru is a former vice president of Zimbabwe.

"Our aim was to come here, be with our people, and to tell them that you are not here forever. We understand and we know the suffering they are going through here in South Africa," Mujuru told reporters in Mamelodi in Pretoria after her "star rally" attended by Zimbabweans living in South Africa.

"I'm sure it is also a relief to the South African government when they see some of us coming to talk to our kith and kin, to tell them that it's just for a short while. It is also heavy for the government of South Africa to keep such a crowd of our youngsters - very difficult to control."

She said as a nation, Zimbabwe was not poor, but the country's ills emanated from endemic mismanagement of resources.

"We're questioning the management. Why is it that we are not using our resources to the fullest so that we are able to develop our industries? Our young people should be able to graduate and find jobs or become employers there at home. We've a lot of things that have gone bad or dilapidated because we don't have the workers."

Mujuru said her trip to Pretoria was also a gesture to thank the South African authorities who had hosted millions of people from their northern neighbour.

"I want to thank them so much for the efforts they are giving for Zimbabweans. I know it's very difficult to look after our young children of this magnitude," said Mujuru.

Regarding atrocities in Gukurahundi in the 1980s, which left more than 20,000 people dead in Matebeleland when she was in the Zanu-PF administration, Mujuru said she was now reaching out to the affected communities. "What I'm asking myself is 'when did all this happen?' It was when I was part of the administration. Now that I'm out, people can see that I am now free to listen, to accept, and to work with them. I haven't yet gone to the graves because it is not yet my responsibility. This is not a responsibility of an individual, it's for the country," said Mujuru.

Earlier, before Mujuru arrived at the Mamelodi stadium, members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Tshwane metro police rushed to quell tempers as two activists invaded the pitch, demanding answers over the Gukurahundi massacres. The pair was swiftly manhandled by Mujuru's supporters as they fought back. Police intervened, escorting them out of the stadium.

Zimbabwe's Gukurahundi massacres saw up to 20,000 villagers and opponents of then prime minisater Robert Mugabe killed in the mid-1980s and remains a highly controversial political hot potato in Zimbabwe.

Memories of the killings, carried out by the country's elite North Korean-trained fifth brigade army unit in the south of the country, are strong among many in Zimbabwe's Ndebele ethnic group and contribute to their distrust of Mugabe and Mujuru, who was a cabinet minister then and wife of the late general Solomon Mujuru, who was the country's chief military commander at the time.

Mugabe offered a part-apology for the killings in 1999, saying they were "a moment of madness".

African News Agency

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