AFRICAN EYE

By Rawlings Magede Tribute to Cont Mhlanga Cont Mhlanga is retired today, having left Amakhosi theatre, a company he founded in 1982.Yes 1982.Today this great icon is now based in his rural home of Lupane, retired yet continuing to offer inspiration to upcoming actors in theatre and drama. The dream of churning out actors who would put Zimbabweans on the international map, still lives to this day. Recently I had an opportunity to spend a day with this great icon in Lupane having paid a courtesy visit to learn from this great icon, lessons of what it takes to run and achieve such a seemingly impossible dream. When I quizzed him on why he chose to retire, his answer, soft but yet firm was that he felt he needed to give way to new ideas and new blood. Today the villagers in Lupane have a legend right in their background, a legend who groomed many established artists and actors who continue to fly the Zimbabwean flag high in different corners of the world. What amazed me when I was tal

During South Africa’s struggle for independence particularly in the 1960s, there was a period that became to be known as the “Lull”. During this period resistance movements which comprised of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and the African National Congress (ANC) had been smashed by the white government. Robert Simangaliso Sobukwe the leader of PAC together with Nelson Mandela (ANC) had been arrested among other nationalist and the momentum that had been gained towards independence was fast dying down. With no vibrant leadership, the people found themselves in retrogressive mode and this helped strengthen the white government as it enacted several pieces of legislation that helped fuel the apartheid system. Although new political outfits in the form of the Liberal party were formed, they came short of consolidating the few gains that had been brought by the ANC or PAC.What I find interesting about South African political parties at the time was that in 1955 they founded the Free