News of Nigerian superstar Burna Boy's inclusion in the upcoming "Africans Unite" concert has been met with resistance from local musicians and event organisers.
The Tshwane Entertainment Collective has objected to the Nigerian rappers inclusion at the anti-xenophobic concert, claiming the star incited hatred with his comments on South Africa.
The group penned an open letter to the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa.
The group questioned the exclusion of artists and event organisers from Tshwane in the process, the lack of financial support for artists from the area, and claims that communities affected by xenophobia are located far from the areas where the concert will be held and cannot afford the ticket prices for the event.
Their major concern, however, was against Burna Boy's inclusion. The group labelled the event a “financial exercise to benefit the very artists who have our country in a negative light based on false claims”.
"Whoever may have deemed that the country needs a PR exercise of this nature would have done so largely as a result of the callous, misleading and unwarranted incitement by this very artist. Not only did he spread falsehoods through his extensive platform, he literally incited violence and hate," the letter said of Burna Boy.
Dear Minister @NathiMthethwaSA
Hear the cries of the people. #ArtsAndCulture #KeepTheArtsPure pic.twitter.com/oSlAXKSAKd
— HomeComing Events (@HomeComingEvent) November 11, 2019
In a statement, Phambili Media said, "This is to address the recent allegations that Phambili Media and Playnetwork Africa are “erroneously” using the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture to promote the Africans Unite Concert taking place on the 23rd of November in Cape Town and 24th of November in Tshwane.
All communications announcing the Africans Unite concert were done with the inclusion of the department. The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture is not providing any financial support to Phambili Media or its event partners, Playnetwork Africa to stage the event.
The statement further said that with recent xenophobic events that have taken place around South Africa, Phambili Media reached out to the department for an endorsement to stand behind the messaging of the event, which is to encourage all Africans to speak with one voice, through music, to drive the goal of uniting our nations.
'We hope that Africans Unite will continue driving meaningful engagements, with the hope that all Africans come together, as one, against xenophobia and gender-based violence".
This comes after Burna Boy urged black foreigner nationals living in SA to defend and protect themselves against xenophobic attackers. In a now deleted tweet, he also told SA rapper AKA to beef up his security, before giving him the middle finger.
He also promised to never set foot in SA again until the government "wakes the f**k up and really performs a miracle".