Zimbabwe: Music Rights Manager to Attend Copyright Workshops in Swaziland

Zimbabwe: Music Rights Manager to Attend Copyright Workshops in Swaziland

The Herald (Harare)

5 March 2008
Posted to the web 5 March 2008

Richmore Tera
Harare

Zimbabwe Music Rights Association general manager Polisile Ncube will this month attend a series of forums and workshops on copyright law to be held in Swaziland.

Ncube's tour to Swaziland comes after being invited by the World Intellectual Property Organisation who singled her out for the instrumental role she played in reducing piracy. Ncube would lecture on intellectual property laws to members of the Swazi judiciary, revenue authorities, duty and customs officials as well as musicians.

The forums and workshops aim to harmonise and forge relations between the two countries. She will also talk about how Zimra was faring in its fight against piracy that is encompassed in the copyright act. Through her organisation, Ncube has been on the forefront in anti-piracy campaigns, some of which saw several music pirates being brought to book. She is on record reiterating statements by the Zimbabwe Music Union through their patron Cde Webster Shamu that the illegal reproduction of music was a serious offence that deserved prosecution and also affected artistes.

Last year, the Zimbabwe Music Rights Association marked their silver jubilee with a seminar on anti-piracy after the practice had reached alarming levels. Ncube's tour to Swaziland comes at a time when music by Oliver Mtukudzi, Alick Macheso, among other artistes was being pirated massively both locally and in the region, causing severe losses to the musicians.