Gukurahundi artist Maseko receives award for bravery

Owen Maseko’s exhibition was displayed at the Bulawayo Art Gallery in March but was soon closed down and he was arrested. Maseko was placed on remand on charges of insulting the President. In August the government passed a law

banning his work and in September he was dragged to court to face charges of ‘publishing falsehoods prejudicial to the State’. He could be thrown into prison for 20 years.

On Thursday the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition decided to give Maseko the Democracy and Governance Individual Award in recognition of his bravery ‘in giving a face and voice to the Gukurahundi massacres through visual arts’.

Speaking about the award, Maseko told SW Radio Africa: “I have had such a hard time since March. It was a really great thing for me, it was a good thing for Crisis to recognise me.”

His exhibition has come at a great personal cost to the artist. “I am terribly under a lot of pressure. I am kind of living in an isolated environment. Even my fellow artists don’t want to associate with me anymore and many other people around. Maybe because they are scared of sensitivity of my matter or they wouldn’t want to associate with me in case they get

harassed by the police. Human rights work is quite a lonely thing to do,” he said

He added that his family has also been under pressure, with his wife having to make frequent prison and court visits.

The Gukurahundi era marks a dark time in Zimbabwe’s history. Between 1982 and 1987 the Zimbabwean government headed by Robert Mugabe unleashed the Korean trained Fifth Brigade on innocent civilians in the Matebeland and

Midlands provinces, killing more than 20,000 people.

“There is always a tribal reasoning when it comes to Gukurahundi. They commonly say it is a Matabeleland problem. Maybe at some point the government will come out there and say violation of human rights is violation of human rights whether they are black, white or that tribe or that religion,” Maseko said.