Local musician Toya Delazy placed herself in the firing line of South African social media users this week.
This comes after the star wrote an open letter published by the American digital cable television network, Revolt TV.
In the letter, Toya describes the recent civil unrest that caused havoc in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng as acts of ethnic cleansing.
Titled “What’s happening in South Africa is going to destroy an entire generation if it’s not fixed”, Toya speaks about how the riots started and what she thinks are the real reasons behind them.
“The country is enduring a mass culling and massacre unlike any other after 1990.
“We all thought that when everyone raised their fists for change, and Nelson Mandela was finally president of the Republic of South Africa, a new dawn was upon us.
“We believed that a rainbow nation was being birthed and the past was immediately sanctified with apartheid warlords such as FW de Klerk being exonerated against crimes against humanity and life going on as usual”, writes Toya.
The “Pump It On” hitmaker then adds: “As we speak, we are on the brink of a terrible civil war raging through my home province of KwaZulu-Natal”.
In the letter, she says that “the straw that broke the camel’s back has been the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma for being in contempt of the Constitutional Court that wanted him to appear, which he refused”.
“Baba Zuma is somewhat of a Struggle hero for a lot of people. Charismatic, the people love him.
“Umsholozi got the love, we can’t deny that, but he also has been involved in countless cases of corruption including the infamous R246 631 303 Nkandla homestead.
“Moreover, his administration has impacted the development of South Africa terribly.
“He is also a Zulu, and his imprisonment bruised a lot of Zulus as he was the first Zulu president,” she said.
South Africans took issue with Toya’s letter asking why a musician was peddling lies about the situation.
.@ToyaDelazy Gurl what are you doing? Why you telling the Americans this is an ethnic cleansing? Do you even know what that means? Babes this is an insurrection confirmed by the government. Stop your shit man. Stop spreading fake news. Fucken stupid girl pic.twitter.com/ODsHDhZSsn
— Magic (@KirstySwiss) July 18, 2021
But why would you interview Toya Delazy about SA political issues and then not bother fact-checking with any other sources reporting on the ground 🙈 the things we see
— Stay at home (@naledimashishi) July 18, 2021
The lazy in Toya Delazy is very loud. 😬
— Ottilia Anna MaSibanda (@MaS1banda) July 18, 2021
It is like musician Toya Delazy mixed wokeisms with apartheid ideas about identity, ADOS and the nonsense she gets fed on social media and came up with that "article" for @revolttv about how there's ethnic cleansing in South Africa.
— Sean Jacobs (@_SeanJacobs) July 19, 2021
WHO allowed that Toya Delazy article to be published?
— obscene (@sometimesnike) July 18, 2021
While social media users dragged Toya, who is the granddaughter of Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, she defended herself.
“'Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal or extermination of ethnic, racial and/or religious groups from a given area'.
“Also 'cleansingesque' and brackets are there to show likeness at the time of writing. Chile and read the whole thing before you grab your keyboard”, she tweeted.
'Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal or extermination of ethnic, racial and/or religious groups from a given area'
— AFRORAVE (@ToyaDelazy) July 18, 2021
Also 'cleansingesque' and brackets are there to show likeness at the time of writing
Chile and read the whole thing before you grab your keyboard ✌🏾