Loyiso Bala calls for Inxeba to be banned, Twitter roasts him

While the director, actors and producers of Inxeba (The Wound) called for calm over the weekend after some cast members and movie-house staff received death threats, musician Loyiso Bala said on social media the controversial film should be banned as it ridiculed Xhosa cultural traditions.

The film depicts the traditional ritual of ukwaluka – a Xhosa tradition into manhood – as well as sexual identity in the form of a gay love story.

It has won 19 awards across the world and has been praised for pushing boundaries and creating debate.

But as the film opened in South African cinemas on Friday, many movie houses were forced to shut doors as they received death threats.

Loyiso took to Twitter a day after many called for calm and said he thought the film should be banned.

One of the producers, Elias Ribeiro, told TshisaLIVE at an exclusive screening of the film that many who criticise it have not watched it.

"We've shown the film to whoever wanted to watch it. We were prepared for the backlash but have decided to just let the audience decide. I have yet to meet a person who has watched this film and still have an issue with it. Having said that, we hope love not hate will prevail this week. We hope the threats against the film will not materialise."

The actors and director have repeatedly said that the film does not show anything about the Xhosa tradition that has not already been said.

When people questioned Bala on his remarks, including DJ Fresh who asked whether he had seen the movie, he remained mum.

Instead he said if the film was based on a true story it would be a whole different story.

Twitter was not impressed with his comments and his refusal to explain why he was calling for a ban when there was so much misinformation about the film already.