The poetry session, which featured ten poets from Harare and attended by approximately 200 people, was held at the First Street mall and paid tribute to late poets, Dambudzo Marechera, who during his time performed his poetry at the same venue and the late Solomon Mutsvairo who wrote the popular poem, Nehanda Nyakasikana, recited by the late Vice-president, Simon Muzenda during national events.

In a commemorative message, MISA-Zimbabwe advocacy officer, Tabani Moyo, emphasized the importance of freedom of expression in a democracy and raised concern over the continued incarceration of freelance journalist, Anderson Shadreck Manyere is charged for acts of insurgence, banditry, sabotage or terrorism under Section 23 (1), (2) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act

The poetry performances touched on the themes of love, culture, the daily life challenges of the ordinary Zimbabwean and the need to be able to speak out.

63-year old poet, Julius Chingono who performed an unpublished piece, My uniform, that described the advantage that uniformed police officials had over ordinary Zimbabweans during the food shortages when they skipped the queues, was briefly detained by the police who alleged that the poem was offensive. He was released after convincing them that the poem reflected what happened in the past.

Rashweat Mukundu
Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring
MISA Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht Street
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel: + 264 61 232 975
Fax:+264 61 248016
Mobile: 00 264 813 675 362
E mail rashweat@misa.org, misaalerts@gmail.com

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