The Arts as a tool for Democratic Development

According to Mr Mcdonald  Lewanika "Art is the ability to explain abstract terms to the viewer or listener nomatter what kind of art being used",he was quoted saying this at the Freedom's next steps:Perfoming Democracy Workshop that was held by Savanna Trust at the media centre on the 29th of June.

Mr McDonald Lewanika who is a self educated activist and also secretary for education and research at ZINASU was a guest speaker at the workshop.The workshop was aimed at discussing how art can be a tool for Democratic development.He said that art and Democracy have a direct relationship and that as a mater of fact people learn more in art and art platforms than in books.He said that the source of information for young people is art and that can be seen in New York with the New York Times having a problem in their sales of copy and they are saying that the big reason is that the youth are not having any intrest in the news and they are not buying the paper.

He said that people especially the young are afraid to engage into politics because they think that its a dirty game,its very serious and its dangerous and the role that can be played by arts is to make politics intresting and to engage those who are reluctant to politics.Perpetuating  Democratisation can also be done in a fun way like with using art.

He said that considering the political discord in the country,art cannot fully affiliate in politics because it has regretable concequences and there were even seen in the banning of plays in Bulawayo because of their content and also songs being banned on national radio and even on perfoming because of their content.Knowing the concequences on defying the "law" artists do not have to stop making the society a better place.

He further battresed his point saying that there is very few that can be done about reality so imaginery reality can be used to make the people know how reality can be like,meaning that the people in Zimbabwe have never experienced freedom and art has to show then what freedom is inorder for them to want it or to want to fight for it.Hesaid that artsits are the modern day philosophers and the are flag bearers for culture,beliefs and assumptions.Looking at countries like Tunisia a rrevolution was drive and inspired by a song called a letter to the president and this further prooves the influence of arts in advocating for democracy development.

In his conclusion he said that indeed art and democracy have a direct relationship.           

Zimbabwe's Hip Hop Future

its been a while now since Zimbabwe’s Hip Hop started getting more recognition,airplay and most important of all a following.Looking at a country like Zimbabwe that does not easily adapt to change of any kind it is fair to say that Hip Hop is now ready to be endorsed as  a well accepted Genre of music.This is because it is now getting fair airplay on radio and there are now community hip hop events (in which yours truelly Magamba has taken part in a fair number of arranging most of them).

Now the question comes back to the issue that does Zimbabwean Hip Hop have a good future? Will Zimbwabweans view Hip Hop as a form of employment? Will Hip Hop gain any sort of respect as it has so much gained in other countries?What is Hip Hop or what would the Zimbabwean people want Hip Hop to be?In a time like this in Zimbabwe something like Hip Hop might have different kinds of meanings.Some may say Hip Hop is swag,a waste of time and some old school cats even connect Hip Hop with the ever changing wirlwind political situation.This is definately not the ideal future of Hip Hop when it is supposed to be respected as a culture or a way to express oneself through urban culture.This negetive atmosphere around Hip Hop may even cause  it to huff and puff but with no avail.

People tend to put their trust in a person  for example when someone’s track is sounding hot they say”this cat is the future of Hip Hop”.But in actual fact is it a hot track that makes the future of a big thing like Hip Hop?Does it only take one person to make the difference in Hip Hop?Is this what happened in countries that have a successful Hip Hop platform?Some might say that studying what went on in other countries for Hip Hop to be recognised will definetly help,will it?In the movies or true life stories or music videos an artist records at home and then heads to the street corner and starts selling albums and all of a sudden he’s made man and has millions of dollars.I tried that and i will  never ever do that again because i had a good whipping of my life by the police.

It indeed is a debatable issue of what the future of Zimbabwean Hip Hop might be.But then again the issue that Hip Hop is here to stay in Zimbabwe is not open for debate because it surely is here to stay.We all love Hip Hop,we all feel that Hip Hop is the future and the future of hip hop is now the most important thing on our minds.A hip hop artist named RussyAmplifaya was also quoted saying “hip hop is an embryo which needs no abortion”.This means that there is something to look foward to though we do not know what it will really grow up into.....

SWORN STATEMENT MADE BY NOLUBABALO NOBANDLA:The Dreadlock Cocain Girl

SWORN STATEMENT MADE BY NOLUBABALO NOBANDLA TO ADVOCATE 

NTSIKELELO JOSEPH SANDI re: HER CASE IN THE CRIMINAL COURT OF 

BANGKOK IN THAILAND SCHEDULED FOR HEARING ON 11 JUNE 2012 

I the undersigned,  

                              NOLUBABALO NOBANDLA,  

do hereby state under oath that,   

1. I am a 23 year old female and a citizen of the Republic of South Africa 

currently being held at Klong Prem Central Prison in Bangkok.  

2. I am charged with bringing 600 grams of cocaine in Thailand. 

3. I have already pleaded guilty to the charge and explained how I landed in 

Thailand with 600 grams of cocaine. I did not even know the weight and the 

type of drugs I was carrying into Thailand. Initially it was said that the weight 

was 1,500 grams which I did not challenge because I had no idea of what I 

was carrying. All I knew was that I was forced to take drugs to John, a 

Nigerian gentleman, and Sulezo a South African woman who had persuaded 

me to go to Brazil under the pretext that I was accompanying her to get a job 

from Tony, also a Nigerian.  

 4. The only reason why I have pleaded guilty is because I cannot deny that I 

brought the drugs to Thailand. However, the court must understand how it 

happened and when sentencing me, to show mercy and understanding. 

5. I am not a drug trafficker but a victim of the human trafficking business that 

is conducted in South Africa by foreigners who come to the country under 

the pretext that they are running from persecution in their countries. Others 

claim that they have come to establish businesses and employ the local 

population.  

6. In my last appearance the Honorable Judge questioned me about my story.  I 

am however not certain if the court fully understood and appreciated my 

story and I now give a detailed sequence of events which landed me in this 

country on 13 December 2011. My State-appointed attorney Ms Woranuch 

Sittivicharpinyo can hardly say a word of English and I cannot speak Thai. She 

consulted with me through an interpreter and I am concerned that she may 

not have fully understood my story so that she can effectively represent me. 

The affidavits that are before court were prepared for me by Advocate Sandi 

from South Africa and got them translated into Thai.  

7. I consent that the authorities in South Africa may use my statement to 

investigating the activities of human traffickers in that country. These are 

acts whereby the targeted women are promised with jobs overseas, but only 

to find themselves trapped in a spider web of drug traffickers in foreign 

countries.    

8. This is how I was deceived and induced to travel to Brazil where I was forced 

to carry drugs to Thailand. Round about November in 2011, I was 

approached by my friend, Sulezo Rwanqa, from my home town, 

Grahamstown, South Africa.  She said she had a Nigerian friend in Port 

Elizabeth whose name was Samuel Uchengu. I did not know Samuel 

personally and all I knew was that he was once married with a lady from 

Grahamstown. His nickname is  “Tuko”. He has a shop in Central where he 

operates from his house at Upper Hill Street with a writing on the wall, “New 

Age”.  

9. Sulezo told me that Samuel had a brother in Brazil whose name is Tony 

Achengu. Tony was running a business in Brazil of selling hair chemicals. 

Sulezo said she had been given a job by Tony to sell hair chemicals for him.   

Sulezo was reluctant to go to Brazil alone as she had never been to that 

country before. She also did not know Tony personally. I very much trusted 

Sulezo as we grew up together and she was very well-known to my family. 

10. Sulezo wanted me to accompany her to Brazil to fetch the hair chemicals 

which she was going to be selling for him in South Africa. In excitement, I 

agreed. At the time I had just started a business of catering through help 

from my aunt and her husband, who are both business people. I also saw a 

business opportunity for me and Sulezo said that was precisely the reason 

she had approached me. She had previously assisted me in my catering 

business. I was also excited about going overseas.  

11.  Later in November 2011 we went to see Samuel who confirmed what Sulezo 

had told me. He said we should not worry about travelling expenses. He was 

going to buy us the tickets and give us pocket money for the trip. Tony was 

going to pay the money back to him. He bought the flight tickets at a travel 

agent in Greenacres, Port Elizabeth. I do not know or remember the name of 

the travel agent. 

12. But on his return Samuel said he had not been able to book us seats in the 

same Flight because it was full and the next flight only had one seat 

available. He had been forced to separate us by booking Sulezo in an earlier 

flight which was leaving on a day before mine, and me in a different flight. 

We were to fly from Cape Town International Airport to Argentine and from 

there to Brazil. Samuel said I should not worry because Sulezo and Tony 

were going to fetch me at the airport in Brazil. 

13.  Although I was not happy with this arrangement I still agreed to go as I did 

not   suspect anything. Samuel said the flights had already been booked and 

could not be changed. He would lose all his money if he went back to the 

travelling agent to cancel the tickets. So Sulezo then left first. 

14. Sulezo and one gentleman came to fetch me. Tony had already phoned the 

hotel where I was going to be accommodated whilst in Brazil. The name of 

the hotel is Topiza in the city of Sao Paulo.  

15. The following day Sulezo told me that Tony had said there was a certain lady 

who was going to meet us at the bus stop. She did not tell me her surname 

except that she was a South African. When we met the lady she confirmed 

being South African. She was much older than Sulezo and me. Her name was 

Hilda. She said she was employed by Tony and her duty was to receive 

people who had come to work for Tony. It was her task to take such people 

to a place owned by Tony where they would be trained. But she first wanted 

to know if we knew what we were coming to do in Brazil. Sulezo said yes we 

did. Hilda said she was upset that she had not been told that we were very 

young people, because the work we were coming to do was very hard and 

dangerous.

16.  I asked Hilda what she meant by dangerous. She said it was about selling 

and delivering drugs for the Nigerians. I was very shocked and afraid for my 

life. I realized that I had been lured into a trap. I looked at Sulezo who did not 

utter a word. Hilda said she had been doing the job for many years. She said 

she was once convicted in Brazil and was sentenced to four years’ 

imprisonment for smuggling drugs for the Nigerians. When she was released 

on parole she went back to South Africa but came back to Brazil as she could 

not get work there. She also knew Samuel and said Samuel was recruiting 

South African women for Tony and other Nigerians based in Brazil selling 

drugs. 

17. I told Hilda that I was not prepared to be a drugs smuggler. I then told her 

what Sulezo had told me. She said it was too late for me to say that. If the 

Nigerians got to know that I was not going to do the work, they could even 

kill me or eliminate me in one or the other. No person would know anything 

about what happened to me. She advised me not to escape but to pretend 

that I was willing to do the work. According to Hilda, the Nigerians were very 

brutal people who could do anything for money. I took her advice to pretend 

I was willing to deliver the drugs.

18. Hilda said some women had tried to escape but were found out by the   

Nigerians. Nobody knows what happened to those women. She said the 

Nigerians could even attack my family in South Africa if I they thought I was a 

threat to their activities. She also said the Nigerians who were selling drugs 

were very well-connected world-wide, including South Africa. They had a lot 

of money to bribe the police and even politicians. She said nothing would 

happen to them if I got killed. Even the owner of the hotel where we stayed 

was possibly a friend of the Nigerians and I could not go and report to him to 

call the police. She also said the Nigerians had friends in many international 

airports and would know if I reported at the airport that I was being forced 

to deliver drugs. When sent on a mission some one would follow me without 

me knowing.   

19.  Initially, I thought Sulezo, just like me had been misled by Samuel and Tony, 

but when she did not look shocked at all by what we were being told by 

Hilda, I was concerned. From that moment onward I was too afraid of Sulezo 

and felt that she had misled me.  I never told Sulezo that I was not a willing 

to work for the Nigerians.   

20.  Hilda took us to a certain house where we met two gentlemen and two 

ladies, all being Nigerians. I do not remember their names. The “training” 

then started. We were to swallow the drugs wrapped up in condoms so that 

when we got to the point where we had to deliver the drugs, we could just 

eject them from our bodies at the toilet. I cried and said I could not swallow 

the staff. I was vomiting but I was forced to try. I was repeatedly told that 

this was the job I had come to do. I was screaming very hard in the hope that 

the Nigerians would release me and let me go back home. I was also cursing 

myself for having been so stupid. 

21. They then suggested that the drugs were going to be wrapped up around my 

hair. To this I agreed, seeing it as away out of Brazil. They told me that no 

person would take any notice of my hairstyle. The two Nigerian ladies then 

wrapped up the drugs around my hair. This took several hours. The weight 

around my head was so heavy that my head was painful. I was so dizzy that I 

could not walk around at and had to sleep. I was told not to worry. I would 

soon get used to the load on my head. I took about 8 pain killers to relieve 

myself from the pains. I was tired and exhausted. When I got up I was still 

feeling dizzy.  

22. When I got up I was told that I was going to be taken to the airport and be 

flown to a place to deliver the drugs.  No name was mentioned of the place 

where I was going to deliver the drugs. So I thought I was going to deliver the 

drugs within Brazil. At the airport I learnt from the ticket that I was actually 

being sent to Thailand. There I was going to meet Sulezo and one John 

whose cellular mobile phone number was given to me by Tony.  

23. Sulezo had left Brazil about a day or two before I left for Thailand. I was not 

told where she was going. I was only told that she had gone to Thailand at 

the Brazil Airport when I was just about to check in and fly to Thailand. The 

Nigerians also told me that Sulezo was not like me because she was “bold 

and strong”. She had taken 15 kg of drugs to someone in Thailand. I was 

going to be paid R 16,000.00 for delivering the drugs on my dreadlocks. 

24. When I came to the airport in Thailand, it seemed that the immigration 

officers already knew that I was coming, because they went straight for me 

and took me to a separate room. There the television cameras had already 

been set up. I told the police that I was coming to Sulezo and John. They 

phoned the two but their cellular phones were off. I told the police to let me 

go but follow me until I meet Sulezo and John, they refused. I said I would 

keep on phoning the two until they answered. They still refused. 

25.  Obviously, I made an error of judgment in this matter for which I am now 

forced to pay a heavy price. In retrospect, I should have been more cautious 

in my dealings with Sulezo and Samuel. I deeply regret the hurt this incident 

has caused to my family, my mother in particular. Already, I am receiving 

reports that since I was arrested her health has worsened and she is now 

receiving medical treatment for acute stress. In fact, I have already 

apologized to her and the family at large. I also apologize to our government 

in South Africa and the nation as a whole. To this court, I express my heart- 

felt apology that I was not suspicious enough even before I left South Africa. 

I am not a drug trafficker and I do not even know how drugs look like.  

26. By the time I came to Brazil there was no way of turning the clock back and 

pull myself out of the sophisticated web of deception of which Sulezo was 

apparently a part. This is confirmed by the fact that although Sulezo was in 

Thailand, she was never arrested until she left. Since she returned to South 

Africa, she has not visited my family.  

27. Even Hilda was possibly part of the deception. She just wanted to know if I 

was genuine and if not to report that to the Nigerians. I was sent to Thailand 

simply to get rid of me and to ensure that I would not go back to South Africa 

and report Samuel to the police.  

28. I humbly request this Honorable Court to consider this background and how I      

was deceived.  

      ____________________________________ 

NOLUBABALO NOBANDLA  

SIGNED and SWORN to at BANGKOK in THAILAND on this the      day of MAY 

2012, the Deponent having agreed that she knows and understands the contents 

of this oath which are binding upon her.