The government of Tanzania has committed itself towards the protection of Zanzibar's henna art. According to an article in AllAfrica, this commitment was made by assistant director of Culture and Development in the Ministry of Information, Culture and Sports, Ms Angela Ngowi, while she was officiating at an dxhibition of henna painting on canvas under the Vipaji Arts and Culture Programme. Ms Ngowi is cited as saying that
"the copyrighting will be done promptly to avoid what befell the Tinga Tinga painting that originated in the country, but has been copied everywhere due to lack of copyright protection".It may be speculated as to whether copyright is the appropriate legal means of protecting a technique, rather than specific works produced in accordance with that technique. Accordingly, Afro Leo awaits details of the promised protection with great interest.
