PETITION TO STOP THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FILLING STATION AT THE LUSAKA PLAYHOUSE (LUS/2637) BY HASS PETROLEUM ZAMBIA LIMITED AND OR ITS AGENTS

 

12 May 2022

Presented to the Mayor of the City of Lusaka, Lusaka City Council

 

CC

Minister of Local Government and Rural Development

Minister of Justice

Minister of SMEs 

Minister of Commerce Trade & Industry

Minister of Youth Sports and Arts

National Heritage Commission

National Arts Council

Hon. Member of Parliament, Lusaka Central

Town Clerk, Lusaka City Council

 

PREAMBLE

 

The Lusaka Playhouse is an iconic and historical cultural landmark of the Republic of Zambia.

 

Since its inception in 1953, the Lusaka Playhouse has staged thousands of theatre and art productions by internationally acclaimed artists performing before royalty, presidents, and world leaders. 

 

In its prime, the Lusaka Playhouse was a powerful institution which shaped the political, cultural, and social landscape of southern Africa.

The political struggles of Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia cannot be completely told without the important role played by the Lusaka Playhouse. Zambia’s liberation struggle was fought as much by our political forefathers as it was, on stage, through theatre and the arts.

 

The Lusaka Playhouse was once an intellectual space and home to some of Zambia’s thought leaders of its day. It served as a place of discourse, intellectual stimulation, political activism, and social transformation.

 

The Lusaka Playhouse has been an incubator for nurturing young talent from all over the country. Some of Zambia’s best theatre talents have been honed at the Lusaka theatre club. Performing on the Lusaka Playhouse stage was an epitome of an aspiring actor.

 

It was once prestigious to belong to the Lusaka theatre club, home of the Lusaka Playhouse.

 

THE CURRENT STATE OT THE PLAYHOUSE

 

The current state of the Lusaka Playhouse is a far cry from what was once a cultural and historical landmark of the nation and region. It has been in a state of gradual decay in the last 30 years. The decay has been both on the physical structure as well as artistically.

 

Artistically, the Playhouse is in comatose. The last ten years have witnessed the total decline of theatre productions in the history of the Playhouse with an average of three productions a year.

 

It functions more as a beer hall, funeral parlour and venue for all sorts of activities, except theatre productions.

 

During performances of the few productions that take place, theatre ethics have been violated. The bar is open throughout the shows; bottles and phones are allowed in the theatre.

 

Over the years the playhouse has been pillaged, hundreds of books in the former library (now a kitchen) have been burnt while all the props and costumes have been disposed of. The lights and different equipment necessary for staging a play are mostly dysfunctional. The toilets are deplorable.

 

The decline of the Lusaka Playhouse has been a result of poor management and a lack of leadership.

 

The restoration of the Playhouse calls for professional management and visionary leadership.

 

We, performing artists, supported by the broader art communities, stakeholders and members of the public are determined to find ways to restore the Lusaka Playhouse to its rightful place.

 

Recalling the SADC protocol on Arts and Culture, the African Charter on Human Rights and its protocols and UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions;

 

Recalling Articles 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 of the SADC Protocol on Arts and Culture;

 

Guided by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Cultural Charter for Africa; the Cultural Manifesto of Algiers (1969); the OAU Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic Development of Africa and the Final Act of Lagos (1980); Our Creative Diversity (1997); the UNESCO Stockholm Action Plan on Cultural Policies for Development and the OAU Dakar Plan of action on cultural Industries;

 

Convinced that the arts and cultural are the cornerstone of any nation and that every citizen Recognizing that arts and cultural institutions are critical to economic, political and social development of any nation;

Noting with concern the failure by the government to constitute the National Arts Commission nearly a decade since its announcement in 2013;

 

Recognizing the role of the private sector and potential of public private partnerships in the development of art industries;

 

Aware of the challenges of running art institutions, yet aware of the abundant opportunities in the arts and cultural industries and the visionary and professional demands required to run art and cultural institutions;

 

Concerned at the stagnated development of performing arts and art industries in Zambia in the last three decades and lagging behind the rest of the region;

 

Concerned that the board and management of the Lusaka Theatre Cooperative Society seeks to divert the core business of the Lusaka Playhouse by seeking partnerships that endanger the future of performing arts in the country;

 

Further concerned at the gradual decay of the Lusaka Playhouse due to successive poor management, poor leadership and lack of support from government over the last decade;

 

Further concerned at the lack of transparency by the board and management of the Lusaka Theatre Cooperative Society on the legal status of the Playhouse and the overwhelming rejection of membership applications thus denying artists the right and opportunity to participate and make decisions in the affairs of the Playhouse and theatre industry at large;

 

Petition that;

1. The plans by the Lusaka Theatre Cooperative Society board and management to leasing any part of plot No LUS/2637 at the corner of Church and Nasser Roads in Rhodespark, Lusaka, to Hass Petroleum Zambia Limited, in relation to the development of a filling station be stopped.

 

2. The plans by the Lusaka Theatre Cooperative Society board and management to leasing part of the Lusaka Playhouse to Hass Petroleum Zambia Limited for 25 years to build a filling station diverts from the core business and are not in the interest of preserving the character and purpose for which the property was built for and therefore must be stopped.

 

3. The plans by the Lusaka Theatre Cooperative Society board and management to leasing part of the property to Hass Petroleum Zambia Limited for 25 years to build a filling station were done without consultation, inclusion, participation, and consensus of all stakeholders in particular artists, art institutions and other interested parties, as such, must be stopped.

 

4. The plans by the Lusaka Theatre Cooperative Society board and management to leasing part of the Lusaka Playhouse to Hass Petroleum Zambia Limited for 25 years to build a filling station are not in the interest of developing the property and, on the contrary, stand to devalue it and therefore not in the spirit of developing the arts and cultural industries.

 

5. The plans by the Lusaka Theatre Cooperative Society board and management to leasing part of the Lusaka Playhouse to Hass Petroleum Zambia Limited for 25 years to build a filling station is short-sighted and make little investment sense as the world moves towards electric cars and away from fossil fuels which soon or later will render the filling station a white elephant, as such, must be stopped.

 

6. The plans by the Lusaka Theatre Cooperative Society board and management to leasing part of the Lusaka Playhouse to Hass Petroleum Zambia Limited for 25 years to build a filling station locks other more meaningful and complimentary investment opportunities in the next 25 years, 

as such, must be stopped.

 

7. The Lusaka Playhouse be declared a national treasure of historical and cultural significance to the Republic of Zambia, as such;

 

a. The Lusaka Playhouse cannot be altered without wider consultation, participation, inclusion and consensus from all stakeholders, including the art community, and all other stakeholders.

 

b. Any structural development, alteration, or investment should complement its historical and cultural role of promoting performing arts in Zambia, consistent with regional, continental, and international conventions and protocols to safeguard and promote the performing arts industry in the country.

 

c. All proposed investments and private partnerships should be complimentary and in the interest of building and developing a multi-disciplinary art and cultural facility of world-class standards.

 

8. The Lusaka Playhouse should remain a cooperative society owned by members and serving the interests of the public, not the narrow interests of the few.

 

9. The Minister of Commerce must review and reverse the ownership of the Lusaka Theatre Cooperative Society, which for over five decades was open to membership by artists and other stakeholders, but in recent years, unbeknownst to the larger art community, secretly manipulated and changed ownership of the Lusaka Playhouse into a private cooperation owned by 26 individuals calling themselves as “shareholders and founders” to the exclusion of the larger art community.

a. Deregister and dissolve the board of the Lusaka Theatre Cooperative Society for manipulating and changing the ownership structure of the Lusaka Playhouse without the consultation, inclusion and participation of the wider art community and other stakeholders.

 

10. The Government of Zambia should stop paying lip service to the art industry and give it the same attention and seriousness it has accorded football, among others, by development of a strategy document on sustainability and development of arts as cultural industries.

 

11. Pass a vote of no confidence in the Lusaka Theatre Cooperative Society board and management for exhibiting gross incompetence, lack of transparency, operating in secrecy, and the lack of visionary leadership. Consequently, they cannot be entrusted with the custodianship of a national and historical treasure that the Lusaka Playhouse is.