Hosia Mviringi
As fate would have it, Thandiwe Melanie Newton, the 49 year old British actress of Zimbabwean parentage, has appeared on British television to issue an apology of shame to fellow black actresses for aparent indiscretions
Thandiwe, in pretending to be sorry, could not hide the shame that inadvertently drowned and overshadowed her rather well meant intentions, if she had any at all.
To conceal her shame and guilt for the greater evil intentions, she pretended to be apologising for the things that never existed. Such things as taking jobs and men away from fellow black actresses, things that never existed as they just came unsolicited from the motor mouth guilty traitorous actress. Nobody had complained over this pettiness.
The background to Newton's latest stunt is that she is co-producer to the documentary 'President', in which Zimbabwean opposition politician Nelson Chamisa is being glorified and portrayed as victim to the 2018 elections which he lost in one of the cleanest manner ever seen on African soil.
He it shamefully touted as the president of Zimbabwe even though he openly lost the elections and subsequently failed to provide evidence of unfair poll practices.
Strange that Newton, who has never set foot in Zimbabwe would claim to know the situation better and pretend to represent Zimbabwean interests.
In the film Newton and fellow executive producer Danny Glover did the film 'President' in sympathy with Nelson Chamisa, but more specifically, the film was meant as a hatchet job mean to embarrass and bash President Emmerson Mnangagwa's image ahead of his appearance at the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow Scotland.
But Thandiwe frustration manifested when her film project was rejected by the London Film Festival, one event which was earmarked to blow prominence to the alleged rights abuses, vote rigging and reflect bad light on President Mnangagwa ahead of Glasgow COP26.
In a scathing attack directed at the LFF organisers, Newton blamed them for being political rather than being professional when they rejected her film for lack of merit.
She went on to accuse the London Film Festival for acting to protect President Mnangagwa by throwing out the film.
"Every time it gets into another festival and wins another festival and gets shortlisted for Oscars, I am just thinking London Film Festival, 'Where we're you? And the reason they were not there was because it was a week before Mnangagwa went to Scotland with a delegation of 100 from Zimbabwe, invited by the United Kingdom. That wouldn't have been a great way to have him arrive the week before, right? That's why I think it wasn't screened," said Newton in a scathing attack directed at the London Film Festival organisers.
It is evident that large sums of money were exchanging hands between prominent film industry players, festivals organisers and adjudicators, pointing at the deep seated corruption in the film industry in the UK and USA.
Of course, even though she claims otherwise, her utterances betray the real reason and purpose for producing the documentary.
Of course all evidence point to a premeditated and prepaid project to embarrass President Mnangagwa and possibly escalate the alleged poll rigging and human rights violations to the United Nations.
Of course Newton is angry that the film suffered epic failure when she had already chopped imperialist dollars for the project.
It has become common cause that if it's not Hopewell Chin'ono on the local scene, then it's some dubious characters out there claiming to understand the plight of Zimbabweans, in the process acting to justify continued sanctions imposition.
A consistent trend has been established over the years whereby the United States government will seize any available occasion to justify its sanctions regime on Zimbabwe, especially ahead of major international evnts.
Activists, Actors and actresses, and opposition leaders have become US Ambassadors who now act as advisors to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Sad reality it is.
Behold, "President" was going to be more than just a film as it was purposely meant to portray President Mnangagwa as the man who stole an election from Chamisa who ironically is framed in the film in the mould of Nelson Mandela.
My foot!
It was meant to overturn an election result in the court of public opinion and to incite a revolt by Zimbabweans and a change of attitude by international partners to the country.
The film was designed to give prominence to a result that never was. It was meant to create a hero out of a villain.
Thandie's frustrations can be understood though.
Just like many other black Africans in foreign lands, deriding a sitting African Head of State has it's own accolades and Newton had her eyes on the converted price, the Oscar.
She couldn't imagine a film that bashes an African leader, while supporting a host country's favoured candidate, losing at the Oscars. But unforeseen to her, the film didn't only lose, it failed to qualify, much to her chagrin.
"Our selection decisions, which are made three months in advance of the festival, are based on the merits of the film and whether it fits into the overall texture of the program and not guided by external factors," said the London Film Festival organisers in response to Newton's accusations of political interference in the selection process.
The "President" documentary turns out as one of the most eminent foreign sponsored projects targeting the Zimbabwean government and it's leadership, which clearly intended to inflict long lasting scars on the image of President Mnangagwa and the country, all in support of a Western puppet who is touted as an electoral victim in the film.
Newton desperately tried to distance herself from the politics behind the production of the film even though it is crystal clear from a distance that the film was politically driven from the start to finish.
To betray her conflicted state of mind is a lame excuse for her involvement in the film project.
"I have never wanted to speak out about Zimbabwe because speaking out politically has always been, " You are speaking out against Zimbabwe".
"That's why I've never wanted to get involved because it's not political. I don't know enough to comment on who should vote for who. If you don't live in the country, you can't say".
Newton quickly engages default mode and reveals her interest in Zimbabwean political affairs through the film;
" But my appeal as a human rights activist is this - I would assume that the leader of the country would want to know who is hurting his people. There are mysterious deaths, abductions and torture. I would have though that the leader of a country would want to know and I don't see enough happening," she continued.
The difference now is that she confesses that she doesn't see efforts by the Zimbabwean government to remedy the issues raised.
Yet in the preceding statement she confessed that as a non-resident.
One then wonders how she can lead a protest against things she is not even aware of!
It betrays the usual hand behind the production by people who probably have not been to Zimbabwe.
Newton is a peculiar product and beneficiary of the well documented George Soros destabilising funding in Africa.
Newton left Zimbabwe as a baby to Zambia where she could only live until she was only 11.
She has lived in the UK and USA since then.
She can't then claim to have a recollection of events in Zimbabwe.
The failed film could have become a handy tool to launch the CCC onto international prominence. Indeed it represents a failed attempt by Newton at becoming CCC ambasador in Europe.
But, yes it was a dismal failure and a pale shadow of what it could be become.
Of course with the launch of this film, Newton quickly morphs from being a competitive actor into a political rights activist. What a regressive feat!
Chati homu chareva.
Comments
Post a Comment