Opinion: By defending Hlaudi, SA artists are being dishonest to the poor

South African artists have come out to pledge their allegiances to the madness of our times; this move has all at once revealed the close proximities with which most artists have positioned themselves to power.

This is the season of the games of political dementia and it is obvious the entry requirement for those wishing to participate is the total suspension of common sense. The levels of noise in our country is head splitting and that is because our country now resembles a high school classroom that's missing the teacher’s instruction.

People are talking at the same time and in the process using a language that is understandable only to their reality. If you ask the poor why they resort to burning property, they will tell you that it’s the only language they have learned to master to make visible their plight.

• ANC distances itself from SABC editorial changesThe ruling ANC has distanced itself from the decisions being made at the SABC. 

If you ask the avatars who occupy leadership positions why they resort to concealing information, they will say they are trying to maintain stabilty and order in the country.

If you ask our artists why they have resorted to assume the role of cheerleaders, they will tell you that it’s a bread and butter issues.

Once I learned that The South African Music Movement and The Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa had joined forces to make a public statement of their unwavering support for Hlaudi Motsoeneng, words once used by James Baldwin sprang to mind.

“Artists are the only people who know the truth about us (human beings), soldiers don’t, states men don’t, priests don’t, union leaders don’t, only the poets.”

What I found particularly distressing about the events of July 4th is the lack of clear observation of the situation by artists; these are the same practitioners who should know how to view all unfolding events with utmost clarity. The fallible application on their artistic duties will unfortunately lead to truth eluding our society, and when the artist fails in their duty of telling the truth then it means that society has failed to progress.

The painful truth of our times is that we lack clear direction and quality leadership had these artists stuck to that truth, chances are that they would have risked being censored on the airwaves, and so half truths were the only option.

Everyone living in this country knows that the over arching matter is the persistent economic oppression of the black majority. Therefore the 90% quota will certainly loosen the clutches of economic oppression on the artist, but now it seems that this relief has come at the expense of the impoverished being misinformed.

The other point to consider is whether the artist’s bold allegiance to the architect of censorship isn’t itself an act of self censorship. The confluence of information streams at the broadcaster affect one another, information shared on radio ends up being a reflex of information shared on TV, therefore this may mean the artist will have no platform to play a song inspired by a scenario similar to Vuwani or is it that perhaps they will no longer concern themselves with such events?

In conclusion, the artists who pledged solidarity with Mr Motsoeneng forgot a fundamental responsibility Baldwin also took the time to explain very well, he said “people, millions of people, whom you’ll never see, who don’t know you, never will know you, people who may try to kill you in the morning,  live in a darkness and the artist is responsible to those people, to lighten their darkness, you are being used, it is impersonal to these faults  which you didn’t ask for and the destiny you must accept,  if you survive it, if you don’t cheat, if you don’t lie, it is not only your glory, your achievement, it is almost our only hope, because only an artist can tell and only artists have told since we have heard of mankind, what it means for anyone who gets to this planet earth, to survive it.” 

Media freedom and artistic creativity are but inseparable and so I see it as unwise for artists to distance themselves from the deplorable act of censorship taking place at the SABC. By defending Mr Motsoeneng at all costs my fellow artists are being dishonest to the poor and need to be called out for it.

July 4th will go down in memory as the day when leading artists chose to join the long list of soldiers who do not march for the truth, states men who oversee policies of half truths, priests who use the pulpit to brainwash minds to relate only to untruthfulness and unionists who learn the workers struggle with untruthful intentions to liberate only themselves.

Who got assassinated on July 4th? Is it art itself? Is it the artist? Is it the truth? Or is it all of the above?

Majola is a musician, performer and writer.