The Presidents’ Prerogative rebuffed

Nanzikambe Arts were clogged between a rock and a hard place in Zomba as Domasi College of Education cancelled The Presidential Prerogative show at the eleventh hour on Friday.

According to Nanzikambe managing director Chris Nditani, the cancellation of the booking comes after the office of the registrar at the college assured them that the hall was free and charged them K15 000 payable on the day of the show.

Said actor Misheck Mzumara, who was processing the bookings:  “An official at the college told us to formalise the booking by writing a letter. We e-mailed them the letter and their acknowledgement came by phone.

“But three days before the show, the college phoned to tell us we could not go ahead with the show because the hall was booked for prayers.

Mzumara said the college turned down their pleas to shift the show from 7pm to 2pm. Equally futile were efforts to relocate to Malawi Institute for Education in the vicinity and to stage an open-air performance as the Chameleons of Naperi did with I will Marry When I Want, And Crocodiles are Hungry at Night and Frogs.

Mzumara quoted the Domasi official as changing tune, saying the hall was reserved for a bank function.

In an interview, Nditani suspected that politics was at play at the public institutions as the play questions the unchecked powers concentrated in the hands of the president.

He lamented that their disorganisation inconvenienced their fans and cost them money in terms of posters and radio adverts which publicised the venues.