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Minister Hlongwane

Tawanda Marwizi Arts Correspondent
Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture Minister Makhosini Hlongwane believes there is need to come up with strategies that protect the arts and culture sector. He made these remarks when he met the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) board at their offices in Mount Pleasant, Harare, recently.

“We need to come up with strategies that protect our artistes as well as those that push the industry forward,” he said.

On issue of piracy, the minister said there is need to put heads together to reduce it.

“Let’s accept that piracy is a challenge that has affected the creative industry across the world, we need put our heads together in mitigating it. Eradicating piracy is almost near impossible with the coming of new media and technology, but a good starting point is to say are we enforcing a legal instrument that is in place at the moment,” he said.

He said there is need to examine the legal instruments that we have.

“Let’s examine the legal instruments and say how do we build strategies that protect artistes by proving such punishments that discourage people from stealing the artistic work. We also have to look into technology and see how it can well assist us to protect the artistes. We should up our game on technology,” he added.

He said Government is keen in making sure that the creative sector is organised in such a way that it is able to be sustainable and produce its full potential. We need to sit down and design strategies that push the sector forward.

“We also want to encourage artistes to work hard” he said.

He said he was going to deliver on the mandate that President Robert Mugabe gave him.

“I have an energetic team I am working with and I am a big pusher myself, so we can do more as far as development of arts is concerned,” he said.

NACZ director Elvas Mari said arts should be used for the benefit of Zimbabweans.