Popular DJ Black Coffee has enjoyed a long reputation in music, but evidently suffers from a short memory.
The award-winning record producer started his successful career back in 1995, so I would imagine he was old enough to remember how millions of South Africans suffered under the yoke of oppression. He should have been able to remember the many different strategies that were employed to overcome apartheid, which included the international cultural and sport boycott.
When some artists and sports people chose to defy that boycott, they were labelled sell-outs. And when the international boycott by artists and sports people helped bring apartheid to its knees, the oppressed hailed it as a victory.
But DJ Black Coffee, born Nkosinathi Innocent Maphumulo, evidently forgot about all this. Because if he had remembered, he would not have agreed to perform in Israel recently. By doin g so, he was giving the middle finger to mounting calls by civil society organisations and political parties , including the ANC and the EFF, to boycott Israel because of the persecution of Palestinians seeking self-determination and a rightful stake in the land of their birth - just as the victims of apartheid once did.
The very weekend when Black Coffee wowed his audience in Tel Aviv was when more than a dozen Palestinian protesters were shot dead and hundreds wounded by Israeli forces. But the gunfire and killings seemed to have had little effect on the DJ, who just cocked a snook at his critics.
As far as he’s concerned, he loves Tel Aviv, he has a right to work as an entertainer, and he agreed to perform there because he had to feed his family. I haven’t had the opportunity of visiting Tel Aviv but am told it’s a lovely city. And yes, he’s quite entitled to earn a living through his music.
But I don’t buy the stuff about performing in Israel because he needs to feed his family.
We’re talking about a world-renowned musician who collaborates with such stars as Usher, Alicia Keys and Drake. He drives a Maserati, owns properties in the US and his reputed net worth is an estimated R27 million. No wonder the coffee left an unpleasant taste in my mouth this morning.