Ntsiki Mazwai on Burna Boy being 'cancelled': What did you gain?

Musician and poet Ntsiki Mazwai has questioned what South Africans gained from the removal of Nigerian musician Burna Boy from the Africans Unite concert. The concert was set to take place in Tshwane and Cape Town, from November 24.

On Wednesday, organisers released a statement saying Burna was removed from the line-up after discussions with his management.

They also announced the cancellation of the concert, which they attributed to threats they allegedly received. In a recent statement, artists under the umbrella of Tshwane Entertainment Collective threatened to shut the event down if it went ahead.

The inclusion of the On The Low hitmaker was met with a wave of public outcry as many, including local rapper AKA, asked him to apologise for the statements he made on Twitter during the spate of xenophobic attacks in SA in September.

Not all South Africans felt Burna Boy needed to apologise. Among them was musician and poet Ntsiki Mazwai, who has since taken to Twitter to ask South Africans what they gained from cancelling the muso

She said Burna Boy did not apologise because SA has a xenophobia problem.

Taking to Twitter in September, Burna Boy urged black foreigners living in SA to defend and protect themselves against xenophobic attacks. He added that he had been "watching the killing of my people in South Africa" and felt to speak out.

He went as far as saying he would not come to SA until the government “wakes the f**k up.”

Police disputed claims that Nigerians had been killed in the attacks, and told TimesLIVE that in fact, of the 12 people killed, 10 were South Africans, one Zimbabwean and one Malawian.

Sport, art and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa also found himself in the firing line, amid claims that his department had funded the concert. The department's logo was used on promotional material for the shows.

Speaking to TshisaLIVE, his spokesperson Asanda Magaqa distanced the department from the concert, and said its logo was used “erroneously”.