Burna Boy with Tiwa Savage
Nigerian music star Burna Boy has vowed never to set foot in South Africa again following fresh violence that has erupted mostly targeted at foreign nationals.
In a series of tweets, Burna Boy said that he had not been in the country since 2017 because of his “own xenophobic experiences at the hands of South Africans”. He said would not do so again until the South African government woke up, but it needed to perform “a miracle because I don’t know how they can even possibly fix this”.
I have not set foot in SA since 2017. And I will NOT EVER go to South Africa again for any reason until the SOUTH AFRICAN government wakes the fuck up and really performs A miracle because I don’t know how they can even possibly fix this.
— Burna Boy (@burnaboy) September 3, 2019
The artist, who won best international act at the BET Award in June, said the xenophobic violence went against everything he stood for – and made reference to the help the continent gave South Africans in their fight against white-minority rule from the 1960s until apartheid ended in 1994.
Relatedly, another Nigerian music star Tiwa Savage has described the xenophobic attacks as barbaric and sick and has cancelled her concert in South Africa which was set for 21st September.
I refuse to watch the barbaric butchering of my people in SA. This is SICK. For this reason I will NOT be performing at the upcoming DSTV delicious Festival in Johannesburg on the 21st of September. My prayers are with all the victims and families affected by this.
— Tiwa Savage (@TiwaSavage) September 4, 2019
“I refuse to watch the barbaric butchering of my people in SA. This is SICK. For this reason I will NOT be performing at the upcoming DSTV delicious Festival in Johannesburg on the 21st of September. My prayers are with all the victims and families affected by this.” tweeted Tiwa Savage.
Star musicians are now weighing in on the matter, with some heated exchanges taking place between big Nigerian artists like Burna Boy and Ycee and South Africa’s AKA and Babes Wodumo, among several others.