Thatha Wena and the Matabeleland ‘dissident threat’

The recently launched talk show Thatha Wena, anchored and conceptualised by iconic duo Mbo Mahocs and Gilmore Tee has barely started being able to breath after birth but already is getting caned by certain critics.

And there is a big problem both with the critics and the producers of Thatha Wena. 

 

Under Attack...Thatha Wena presenters Gilmore Tee and Mbo Mahocs

For their part, the stooping low of the producers by engaging in a guerrilla war with critics who evidently had nothing constructive to offer but simply shoot down their idea was terribly ill-informed.

‘Observations’ ranging from the quality of the production right through to the conduct of the presenter were no doubt petty and had hints of something more than a jealous rant by people who want to strangle the new-born.

The best would have been to ignore the rantings.

With a beautiful set, expert cinematographic expertise as well as a solid concept, it is terribly surprising that one may want to ignore all the good and try to nit-pick. Does that mean there are jealous people out there in the City of Kings who want to pull down a fellow team of creative? Well, does a duck tighten its arse when it dives into water? The answer is obvious.

However, this exposes the continual ‘dissident threat’ that has always been a problem in Matabeleland, a city in which I was personally raised.

The dissidents are in essence Bulawayo dwellers who are very good at crying ‘marginalisation’ when something for another city is raised, particularly Harare, but when a new-born comes from Bulawayo, instead of support it and give constructive criticism, take out their guns from their caches and shoot it until the cartridges are empty. And they reload.

One of the arguments was that the presenter(s) have too much of an opinion. Is there ever anything like ‘too much opinion’ in the talk show business?

Bottom line is that in the absence of a spirit of celebrating something local and coming together to keep it alive, the drams from Matabeleland and the arts will no doubt always be found dead in the water.

This infanticide attempt at Thatha Wena will always reflect the efforts of the dissidents will always be alive, but perhaps what Matabeleland needs is not exclusive awards ceremonies or exclusive spaces but rather a mind-set shift that says helping build local products like Thatha Wena is the best way for the arts industry to rise.

The fact is not that one ought to support anything however bad in the name of supporting local, but with a product like Thatha Wena, there really is precious little to shoot and try and talk down.

In fact another suggested that even the name of the programme is misplaced. Like that know-it-all uncle with dog’s breath, who comes to see a new-born child and tries to teach lecture that your child who you named peter looks more like a Godfrey and should be named as such. Perhaps it is time to be rude and say each to himself. Those who want to ‘correctly name’ a programme and bring in interview techniques that they deem ‘better’ are better off starting their own ish.

The critics are like the classic people who see themselves as demigods, omnipotent juridical entities who from their imagined Mount Sinai’s bellow their opinions from their lofty spaces and places wanting to impose their ‘ideas’ on a lesser people in classic Mosaic style. The arts have no 10 Commandments and those who want to author those should start their own religion and free their own Israelites.

Bulawayo needs a feel good story coming out of it and Thatha Wena, while definitely not perfect, has provided us with that breath of fresh air.

Ironically, all the Harare based publications have had good stories to tell about Thatha Wena while the jealous green dissidents, in all their envy, are busy smuggling illegal weapons in a bid to shoot one of their own to death. Sad!

Watch Thatha Wena Here: