THE BIG PAYBACK

It’s the big payback
Emcees you better stay back
The payback

In 2009 I want what is mine
All sucker MCs better fall in line
I’ve just quit tobacco, won’t touch that wine
My life is now changed, I leave my past behind
I’ve been through betrayals and saw traitors shine
Indeed the truth did manifest in time
So we had to boot out the snitch for spying
Said he was a comrade but he was just lying
We dropped out all who got contaminated
Watched crews mushroom, it was all related
I gave the game love and got playa-hated
You give a dog a long rope and so I waited
Enemies and cowards trying to stop my hustle
But She Govanwa moves even if it needs muscle
Uncle Sam drinks my blood in the castle
With patience I got the keys to the puzzle

It’s the big payback
Emcees you better stay back
The payback She Govanwa 2009-02-01 Toyitoyi

Nheketerwa
Nhasi havavati
Vavengi vanorohwa nadzo nheketerwa zvorwadza mukati
Nhasi havavati
Vavengi vanorohwa nadzo nheketerwa zvorwadza mukati

Tungidza hurozvi gwenyapfungwa rine fodya
Gudzamazwi havi yacho nhasi mbwende ndodya
Kana Ndoyerera samba racho Mutirikwi
Dzoka shure pfumo pasi rangu harivhikwi
Nhevedzanhorido igosoro remunhikwi
Huruyadzo hondo ha-a hugaroriga mbiti
Ugo hwemujecha chita chacho chamagwiti
Chitaka vanorutsa G.O.D.obori rova diti
Hutsari muzvipari pfari mujari naMwari
Mushamamavi ari muhari mogara shavi
Iri shoko hook goko rondurira mboko
Ruwoko rwemudoko asi mbama yechipoko
Toyitoyi pfacha mashiripiti engozi
Mukusvipamazwi munodyarirwa mhodzi
Vechidiki vagoziva ndimi yechizvarwa
YaNeMbire nhumwe ndiyo ino yakatsarwa

Nhasi havavati
Vavengi vanorohwa nadzo nheketerwa zvorwadza mukati
Nhasi havavati
Vavengi vanorohwa nadzo nheketerwa zvorwadza mukati She Govanwa 2009-02-01 Toyitoyi

Raise Your Fist

If you are warrior Raise Your Fist High!
Are you a warrior Raise Your Fist!

A Bobo lion Babylon won’t give me a visa
Coz I’m a toyitoyi teacher, pro-zapatista
Anti-capitalista, I’m the counter-culture
I’m rooted in the spirit like a Shona sculpture
Refuse to lose, used, fused to propaganda
X on the ballot so we struggle no longer
The shit-stem keeps on coming on stronger
Uncle bob, uncle sam
Or another uncle tom,
We remain the same
Poor and we’re unemployed
A black president, a woman head of state
Another window dresser seals the working-class fate
The democratic right to choose a new slave-master
Cosmetic changes make the slave work faster
So until the power is in the hands of the people
I’ll be in the streets chanting change still a rebel
I’ll be in the streets chanting change still a rebel

If you are warrior Raise Your Fist High!
Are you a warrior Raise Your Fist High! She Govanwa 2009-02-01 Toyitoyi

Chera Mwena

Apinda mudariro muHera
Mupanduki chera mwena watopera
Apinda mudariro muHera
Mupanduki chera mwena watopera

Kana ndichiyerura, kubvisa tsvina pamusoro paro tsime
Ndinoveura, ndocheudza, ndoteura, ndobheura
Ndidzo nheketerwa dzinde
Teerera harivhikwi rokurozva semunhikwi
Ndoyerera Mutirikwi mwayi yangu ndiri gwiti
She Govanwa G.O.D.obori, nduri dzangu ongorori muma-
Zuva matatu ndinopaza ndigovaka
Rusvingo neruzhowa kuDzimbahwe ndigokaka
Pfungwa ndochikanda ndichisunungura nhapwa
Vasinayo mhaka, vasinayo nhaka
Nditambidzewo guchu nyota yacho yave nhubu
Anosvipa mutauro ngaatonhodze pahuro
Zvirahwe ndichitsenga ndichimedza zvipauro
Nyanduri ndasvika handizezi mushauro
Manditambidzawo nzeve maiwanaka nhauro

Apinda mudariro muHera
Mupanduki chera mwena watopera
Apinda mudariro muHera
Mupanduki chera mwena watopera She Govanwa 2009-02-01 Toyitoyi

BALLISTIC

BALLISTIC

It’s the anti-capitalistic, anarchistic
Activists gone ballistic
It’s the anti-capitalistic, anarchistic
Activists gone ballistic

We represent the seven principles of kwanza
Toyitoyi is back it’s the lyrical bonanza
Babylon is searching me looking for the ganja
We are down on the wheels working on a tyre puncture
She Govanwa G.O.D.obori n’ Fati Kwako
Watching ghetto people scatter-fear of the po-po
Domain of the pharaohs is Fio-it’s the ghetto
Salads can’t come thru the section-it’s a no go
We have anarchist flags flying on the logo
In a land ready-made for bhinghi n’ the bobo
The tyre on the wheel plunges into the pot-hole
Watch me deal with the snitch - smack him with a bottle
We are writing on the wall, so I’m pressing on the nozzle
It’s letters that I’m good at- working in the dojo
But nowadays is hard coz the paints will cost you more dough
So they shoplift, liberate them from your top store

It’s the anti-capitalistic, anarchistic
Activists gone ballistic
It’s the anti-capitalistic, anarchistic
Activists gone ballistic
She Govanwa 2009-02-01 Toyitoyi

Toyitoyi Artz Kollektive On A Hustle

Toyitoyi's LP is now available on the streets of Harare. The offering is undoubtedly one of this year's most innovative projects. Given the environment currently obtaining in the country the LP provides deep insights into what is otherwise blurred by the bourgeois media. To obtain the CD in Harare please call 023 862 271 or 023 801 171. If you are in the states e-mail jennyleis@riseup.net.

The Wording Ceremony: A Healing Art-Form

Unless and until my tongue is cut-off like they did to Tonderai Ndira, i will continue spitting venomous words to poison the system. It's been a while since i updated this blog. i took some time to reflect (praxis is the combination of action and reflection). I lost a number of comrades; they went six feet under but their blood still wets my appettite for struggle against the vampires. I was able to express myself in Jozi;expressed myself like i did when i uttered that cry coming out of my mother's womb. And i am not sorry, will not apologize,. not now, not ever; am totally subjective, no pretence at being objective; fuck mugabe, fuck the dictatorship. i've wounds in my heart.

The run-off or is it run-over came and ran off. One man's solo run-away. Ari kumhanya pfungwa. He is running the mind. He is crazy. But in which track is the opposition running? I must admit that the withdrawal from the election was for me the first of brilliant displays of wisdom from Morgan. But then again where do we run to? To the streets, to the streets. Milosevic n' Surhato fell from this run in the streets. Ahoy!

Even if you cut out my tongue my fingers will typewrite the thought-tracks on which i run this revolution.

Run-away rebel!

TTAK CD

95The Toyitoyi Arts Kollektive has just released a sizzling-hot hiphop compilation album with raw revolutionary rhymes: The Toyitoyi LP. If you are in the U.S. and would like our CD, email jenny[at]cityrepair.org ... solidarity donations of US$5 will go a long way to support our efforts!

For peeps in Southern Afrika, we coming in a neighbourhood near you very soon. If you are in Zimbabwe e-mail toyitoyi@riseup.net or call +263 916 295 507.

The album features beats from Sonz of Gunz, i.e. Marc Blaze, Beenie Blaze, DJ Kings and Ghetto Projects' Cee Tha Real. Lyrics are provided by She Govanwa Godobori a.k.a. Biko Mutsaurwa, Cee Tha Real, Warriors' Truth, 45th, Koko 42, N1, Munetsi, Hot Fudge, Dizraeli, Outspoken, Upmost and Jenny Leis.

Coming soon is a DVD Documentary entitled Black Boots In April commissioned by the Students Solidarity Trust and produced by the Toyitoyi Artz Kollektive in collaboration with Imani MediaWorks. Watch this space for details.

On The 2008 Harmonised Elections

On Elections

Elections are about the Poor and Working People handing over the running of their lives to 300 or so people who are not bound to be accountable between elections and can basically do whatever they like; to 300 or so people who will enjoy and be corrupted by, all the benefits of luxurious parliamentary lifestyles, the gravy train. These politicians will be part of the ruling-class because they will live off the workers, and also because they will defend and manage capitalism and the state.

In the Zimbabwe 2008 Harmonised Elections, people were being seen only as voters, not as people who can actually get involved in politics and bring Rugare/Uhuru about. We were reduced to a mass of mere spectators. We were led to believe that the state is an instrument that can be run in our interests. Some "revolutionaries" forsook their revolutionary tasks and nose-dived into electioneering. They have been going for whatever is popular and will ensure that they get elected. Popularity and revolutionary consciousness are not necessarily synonmous because the dominant ideas in our society are the ideas of the ruling class who control the ideological state apparutus.

The truth is, parliamentary democracy is about putting numbers on a piece of paper every five years. We are given a choice all right, but between parties who all agree with the system of a tiny minority ruling the country. This is not to say that there is no difference between life under a dictatorship and life under a capitalist parliament. At least under the parliament people have a few political rights, whilst they have none under a dictatorship or a one-party state. Rights under a capitalist parliament will include freedom of speech and association, limited rights to protests and some protection from racist and sexist practices. We, therefore, support the struggle for increased political freedom. We recognise that a victory that leads to a democratic constitution is a massive advance for the struggle because it is better to live under a constitutional parliament than a dictatorship. (Having said this, however, we still recognise that parliament is undemocratic and dominated by the ruling-class; the generals, rich men and bosses, state managers and professional politicians).

Of importance here is our argument that these political rights will not come through the "kind" hand of the ruling-class. Instead they are forced on the state through mass struggle by the oppressed classes, and must be defended and advanced in the same way. It is mass action that drives all progressive change in society. It was struggle that led to the replacement of the racist Rhodesian dictatorship by the black nationalist dictatorship. Winning small gains through struggle is important because it can bring economic and political improvements for the working and poor masses, because it gives the masses confidence in their ability to fight back and win, and because it helps lay the basis for the revolution. It prepares people for the revolution by organising them on the ground in opposition to the system, and by opening them up to revolutionary ideas. It is thus important that we get involved in the pro-democracy struggles whilst linking these demands to the ultimate goal of a worker-peasant revolution.

At present, what is particularly worrisome is the opposition's naive expectations of a simple victory delivered to them by the dictatorship's beaurocracy. The only language the dictatorship understands is the language of mass struggle from below. This is the only way to win in the here and now, and definitely the only way to smash the system in the long run. The dictatorship will not fall until its pillars of support crumble. They remain in control of state newspapers, television and radio. They also have the state (army, police, government departments) and the forces of repression that go with it. Whilst it is probably true that some members of the forces are disaffected, it is folly to think that these members of the forces will disobey orders without the encouragement from the people through mass action. What further compounds these worries is that there appears to have been no preparation whatsoever for the eventuality of mass action, even if the MDC were to call for it. This raises the possibility of an early and easy quelling of any protests, and the Working Class movement might further plunge into despair and fear. Clearly, the failure by the pro-democracy movement to press on with action after March 11 has not helped. The people have lost courage and faith in themselves. But can the frustration of a rigged election result ignite spontaneous rioting? Will the pro-democracy movement be able to spark people power? These are the urgent questions of the now and all hope hinges on the answers.

Let us remember that Rugare/Uhuru cannot be given, it has to be taken. It is us the ordinary people who must make the revolution.
Uhuru Sasa!

Day of the African Child -- June 16

Africa Day--May 25

Some of our events