CIO order art gallery to ‘cover up’ Gukurahundi exhibition with newspapers

By Violet Gonda
29 March 2010

Artist Owen Maseko appeared in court on Monday for a bail hearing, after spending the weekend in detention at the Bulawayo Central Police. He was arrested on Friday for holding the Gukurahundi Exhibition at the National Art Gallery.

His wife Sharn Maseko said her husband is still in detention and a ruling on his bail application will only be made on Tuesday.

He is being charged under the repressive Public Order and Security Act, for allegedly undermining the authority of the President and causing ‘offence to people of a particular race or religion’.

Voti Thebe, the manager of the gallery in Bulawayo, had also been taken in for questioning on Friday and asked to report to the police station on Saturday, but is out of custody.

The exhibition is about the infamous Gukurahundi, where Robert Mugabe unleashed the notorious Fifth Brigade on Ndebele people in parts of Matebeleland and Midlands provinces. More than 20 000 people were massacred and many were thrown down mine shafts.

Owen’s exhibition shows provocative paintings about this terrible episode in Zimbabwe’s history. His wife said the exhibition, which is supposed to run for the whole of April, is still there but that state agents have ordered gallery staff to cover the windows with newspapers.

Some of the images are painted directly onto the walls of the gallery, so people walking past on the streets can see the paintings, through the glass windows of the gallery.

She said: “But they have covered the windows with newspapers so that people are not allowed to see the exhibition from the streets and also the public are not allowed access to the exhibition, which is obviously very disappointing because as an artist you do art for the people. So to deny the people access to that art has a very negative impact to the art industry and on Owen as an artist.”

This is the second clampdown on artistic expression in just a few days. The Delta Gallery in Harare had to close down their exhibition of photographs showing the state sponsored violence during the 2008 Presidential elections.

Mrs. Maseko said of her husband: “The issue for him is about art and to freely express himself as an artist and he is disappointed to be prevented from expressing himself.”

A press briefing was held in Bulawayo on Monday about the artist’s arrest and it’s reported that scores of people from civil society, the arts and politics offered messages of support and solidarity. They called for his release and for the opportunity for Zimbabweans to be able to express themselves freely, especially around issues of national healing and reconciliation.

Meanwhile ZAPU’s Communication Director Methuseli Moyo said: “The arrest of Maseko is in our view an addition to the Gukurahundi crimes against humanity. The arrest proves that those behind Gukurahundi, Murambatsvina and other evil operations unleashed on the people by the ZANU-PF regime, are still unrepentant and ready to scratch and add salt to our wounds. ZAPU calls on all the progressive forces of Zimbabwe not to be scared by the latest tactic by the regime. Instead, we should be more determined to get rid of the regime. And the time to get rid of them is coming sooner than they realise.”