Kaseketi (left) , Saboi (right)

By GETHSEMANE MWIZABI –
ZAMBIAN filmmaker and human rights activist Catherine Kaseketi has been appointed as coordinator for Artwatch Africa for Zambia and Southern Africa.
Meanwhile, Zambian activist and musician (former Shatel) Saboi Imboela has been appointed as Ambassador for Artwatch Africa Zambia.
Kaseketi the brain behind the famed  Shungu Namutitima Film Festival  and founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of  Vilole Images Productions (VIP) said her organisation was proud to be among the organisations in Africa that have been appointed as national coordinators for Artwatch Africa.
The appointments of the two activists happened during the just ended Shungu Namatitima Film Festival in Livingstone.
Ms Kaseketi was earlier this year nominated as coordinator for Zambia and later appointed as one of the three Southern representatives for Southern Africa.
The other two are Pamela Ndoro from Zimbabwe and Sarah Vranckx from Nambia.
Kaseketi, a filmmaker and human rights advocate for her appointment as coordinator for Artwatch Africa Zambia.
A project of Arterial Network, Artwatch Africa sets out to promote and defend the freedom of creative expression on the African continent.
Through human rights training, public seminars, writing of articles and blogs, monitoring and reporting of censorship and repression, Artwatch Africa aims to empower local civil society actors within the arts, cultural, human rights and related sectors to defend the rights of artists and contribute to democracy building within Africa.
This Arterial Network Africa project is being supported by Mimeta, the Swedish Post Code Lottery, Swedish Institute (SI), and Goethe Institute in partnership with the Swedish Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR), DOEN and HIVOS.
As a take-off for the Artwatch Africa project Arterial Network brought together 17 participants representing the five African regions to deepen their understanding of human rights during the Zanzibar Film Festival.
The training took place from 15 to 21 June. It was a unique opportunity for these human rights, legal and artistic practitioners to share their experiences and create the basis for a mutual understanding of what constitutes freedom of artistic and creative expression, a significant issue in Africa where many artists still suffer all kinds of repression.
Supported by Basma El Husseiny and Joy Mboya, Simone Andrade led the training, after which each participant committed to do some project awareness and/or advocacy activities in their home countries.
Among the activities, each country was encouraged to appoint a National Ambassador for Artwatch Africa. After critical consultations with artists and people from different backgrounds.
As for Saboi ‘literally walking in the footsteps of her father, Saboi has the heart of her father Edwin imboela who was a pre-eminent freedom fighter and after whom a stadium situated in the centre of Zambia’s political and commercial capital Lusaka has been named.
One would wonder why she is passionate about national and artistic issues.
Well, it is because she inherits the father’s spirit.
Saboi is a woman freedom fighter in today’s matters and that is why she is well suited as Ambassador for Artwatch Africa Zambian Chapter’, said musician, arts activist and social advocate Levy Sakala in an interview recently.
With such a background, despite article 9 of the African Charter and article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights providing specifically for and guaranteeing freedom of expression,
Ms Saboi’s persona and diligent unstinting commitment to issues as pertains to the state and relevance of the creative arts and culture sector concerning matters of practice, sector-specific policy formulation and implementation and synergetic stakeholder initiatives, stands her in good stead to join this of Africa’s struggle for artistic and cultural rights. Indeed, congratulations are in order to Saboi!
Saboi is a Zambian singer and human rights activist who believes in a world where the greatest good can be distributed to the greatest number of people if basic human rights are attained.
She has been advocating for the rights of fellow artists, women, children and the youth for a number of years and says that human rights people need to be aware of their rights for them to be able to defend them properly.
She asserts that people from all walks of life should be made aware of their rights as early as possible to ensure that they do not only protect themselves but are able to report cases of human rights abuses.
It has been observed that the duty bearers of rights can easily violate their privileged positions so it is important to always have an alert arts community or citizenry in general to demand these rights.
Saboi has a Political Science degree from the University of Zambia and a Masters in International Law and Politics from Canterbury University, New Zealand. Her passion for artists’, children’s, youth and women’s rights forms a big part of her political analysis as she believes that socially excluding these groups, or any group for that matter, is detrimental to the social, political and economic development of any country.