Ntsiki Mazwai says Nathi Mthethwa has nothing on her - 'I can do a better job than you'
The AKA and Burna Boy beef has seen sports, arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa on the receiving end of criticism for “promoting Afrophobia” from musician and poet Ntsiki Mazwai.
Ntsiki has made it no secret that she is in support of Burna Boy coming to SA to perform on 24 November during the “Africans Unite” concert, unlike many who have criticised this move, including local rapper AKA.
When the news broke last week that the Nigerian rapper would be making his way to Mzansi, AKA tweeted that Burna needed to apologise for spreading falsehoods that Nigerians were killed in SA during the spate of xenophobic attacks in September.
Ek se ... @burnaboy all we want is an apology. We know 🇿🇦 is not perfect. But we took you in as our own before you reached these levels. You say you are an AFRICAN GIANT, prove it.
— AKA (@akaworldwide) November 13, 2019
Burna's claims were dispelled by police who told TimesLIVE that, in fact, no Nigerians were killed during the attacks. Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said of the 12 people killed, 10 were locals and the two were Malawian and Zimbabwean.
Some SA artists under the Tshwane Entertainment Collective umbrella wrote a letter to the department of sports, arts and culture, criticising it for allegedly funding the concert. The department distanced itself from the concert, saying its logo was used "erroneously."
"The department of sports, arts and culture wishes to dispel the untrue information currently being spread on social media that it is funding the Africans Unite Concert featuring the artist known as Burna Boy. It is unfortunate that the department's logo was erroneously used on the poster advertising the event," spokesperson Asanda Magaqa told TshisaLIVE.
Over the weekend, Ntsiki took jabs at both AKA and Mthethwa. She accused the rapper of using Mthethwa to settle personal scores with Burna Boy, and accused the minister of promoting hatred of other African nationals by locals by distancing his department from funding the concert.
1. AKA is using you to settle a personal score and probably envious of the gig.
— #Qhawe OUT NOW (@ntsikimazwai) November 17, 2019
2. Why is Nathi Mthetha getting involved and promoting afrophobia??? @NathiMthethwaSA you're disgusting and still poor at your work
Mthethwa did not take Mazwai's criticism lying down.
There's absolutely nothing Afrophobic about informing the public about a concert that used the logo of @ArtsCultureSA without the required permission. You're making an assumption without any factual basis. https://t.co/L52mauIHHO
— Min. Nathi Mthethwa (@NathiMthethwaSA) November 17, 2019
Ntsiki went on to tweet that government should be a voice of reason by supporting Pan Africanist concerts, and also said she would make a far better sports, arts and culture minister than him.
Let's be honest.......I, Ntsiki Mazwai am a better candidate for Arts and Culture minister than Nathi Mthethwa
— #Qhawe OUT NOW (@ntsikimazwai) November 17, 2019
And yes government SHOULD be funding a pan Africanist event actually ....... especially during these volatile times
— #Qhawe OUT NOW (@ntsikimazwai) November 17, 2019