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George Maponga in Masvingo
Masvingo City Council has moved to restore sanity at the famous Charles Austin Arts and Theatre centre by ending sole control of the renowned facility by Masvingo Arts and Theatre Club(MATC).

Council intends to introduce a new dispensation at Charles Austin by allowing free usage of the facility by all arts and theatre practitioners and groups in the city as part of efforts to promote development of the sector.

The move is also aimed to restoring the theatre’s yesteryear glory as the conveyor belt of arts and theater talent in the ancient city.

Currently, the theater is controlled by MATC which has exclusive rights to activities there.

Now Town Clerk Clerk Engineer Edward Mukaratirwa says that is set to end with MATC leaving ceding sole control on Saturday.

Engineer Mukaratirwa says plans are also at an advanced stage to consult a select group of city elders to solicit views on how best to restore the famous theatre’s yesteryear mojo.

The ultimate goal is to make sure the theatre continues to be the hub for arts and theatre development for all Masvingo residents while also generating revenue to be ploughed back for maintenance of the facility.

At the moment revenue generated from other activities at the theatre was flowing into MATC’s account.

MATC Director Mr Charles Munganasa,in a notice to stakeholders, confirmed his club would cease to exist on 31 July.

Mr Munganasa noted that council had resolved to take over control of Charles Austin theatre and insinuated the move would spell doom for the theatre abs arts industry in the city,a view dismissed by city fathers as untrue.

Charles Austin theatre is famous for honing talents of several prominent actors and musicians from Masvingo and hogger the limelight in 2017 after MATC produced a short film titled Operation Restore Regasi based on how the old dispensation under former president the late Cde Robert Mugabe relinquished power.