Burna Boy, Tiwa, Others Boycott South Africa …Over Xenophobic Attacks

Nigerian singer, Tiwa Savage, Afrobeats star Burna Boy and Zambia’s senior national football team have all boycotted South Africa, after days of looting and violence targeting foreigners, in which five people died.

In a series of tweets, Burna Boy, who was Apple Music’s “Up Next” artist in July, said he had not been in the country since 2017 because of his “own xenophobic experiences at the hands of South Africans”.

“I understand that years of oppression has confused South Africans to the point where they see the people who came to their defence during their oppression as their enemies and rather worship their oppressors,” Burna Boy tweeted.

Even though Burna said it would take a miracle to fix the xenophobic mentality in South Africa, he admitted that some people in that country are amazing and progressive personalities.

Savage as well took to Twitter to announce her decision to cancel her performance at a festival slated for September 21, 2019, in Johannesburg.

”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.”. 

The Interscope signee expressed her disgust and disinterest in associating with a country that is persecuting her people.

Zambia’s football association has also cancelled an international friendly against South Africa this Saturday in, Lusaka.

“This is because of the security concerns, you never know what can happen,” Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) secretary general, Adrian Kashala, told AFP News Agency, adding that “We want to be sure of the security of [the] visiting team”. 

Police say five people have been killed but have not disclosed their identities or nationalities.

South Africa continues to be heavily criticized due to the failure of its leaders to address the notorious cases of xenophobic attacks in that country.

Nigerians have particularly been at the receiving end of these attacks with their shops being looted.

Whilst South Africa’s opposition leader, Julius Malema, seems to have incurred the wrath of the citizens for describing the attacks as condemnable because the wrong people have been targeted, its former President, Jacob Zuma has on several occasions, slammed perpetrators of the gruesome killings.