Song ‘risks opening old wounds’

Durban - A new song by a KZN maskandi artist, titled Umfana Wendiya – The Indian Boy, risks reopening old wounds, analysts have warned.

Academics and commentators yesterday said the song by Zibokwakhe “Phuzekhemisi” Mnyandu, threatened sensitive inter-racial relations and could harm the country’s attempts to build social cohesion.

The song, which features on Phuzekhemisi’s 21st album titled Bayede Zulu, released last Friday repeatedly says: “Ake ningi khuzeleni umfana wendiya, uyangihlupha emsebenzini, ngathi ngizomfaka unyawo, ngikhathele. Ngidlal’impimpi iyangihluph’emsebenzini, ngidlala lendiya liyangihlupha la emsebenzini khona”.

Loosely translated it means – “Tell this Indian boy to refrain (from what he is doing), he is troubling me at work, I might kick him [because] I’m fed up [of what he is doing]. I’m being troubled by this informer; I am being troubled by this Indian who is worrying me at my place of work.”

Phuzekhemisi, 49, originally from eMkhomazi (Umkomaas), yesterday insisted the song was about a particular individual and not about Indians as a group, nor was it intended to stir up bad blood. It was inspired by his personal experience while working in a Clairwood chemical factory in 1989.

He said an Indian colleague ill-treated him and was an informer for the factory owners.

“I used to carry my guitar to work and play it during lunch break but the Indian would tell the owners about it. I write from personal experience and today I still hear people talking about Indian informers and ill-treatment they receive from that race in the workplace,” Phuzekhemisi said.

He said the aim of the song was not to cause conflict.

“It’s not controversial because I am not using derogatory or vulgar language. I am just trying to put a message across,” Phuzekhemisi said.

He said most of the albums he had released, featured songs about Indians.

Phuzekhemisi’s song is likely to come in for some scrutiny in the light of the furore that followed the 2002 release of Mbongeni Ngema’s notorious Amandiya song.

The playwright, musician, choreographer and director’s, song was banned by the Human Rights Commission after it ruled the lyrics were racially offensive.

University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) political scientist, Dr Lubna Nadvi, said while artists and musicians were entitled to creative freedom, they had the responsibility to ensure their art did not generate social friction or create discord.

“Given that the song’s lyrics refer to an old incident and context where there was certainly a degree of racial discord between all racial groupings in South Africa, one needs to understand it in that framework. However, we have as a nation moved on since then and race relations have improved,” she said. Nadvi said there was a possibility that such lyrics could open up old wounds.

Happy Khuzwayo, a Zululand University of Technology lecturer in terminology, translation and onomastics analysis said the song had the potential to damage the social cohesion the country was trying to build.

“Just listening to the song, it shows that there are things that transpired. I feel that he [Phuzekhemisi] is carrying hatred that he needs to deal with personally and not in a public space. This is going to destroy the relationship we [Blacks] have with Indians,” she warned.

However, Ndela Ntshangase, UKZN lecturer in heritage, culture, African languages and literature said the song should not cause a stir because Phuzekhemisi was not generalising and was being specific.

“He is not saying all Indians ill-treat people at work, he is just talking about his own personal experience. Controversy happens when you generalise. This is not strong enough to be classified as hate speech,” he said.

Speaking about the relationship between black and Indian people, Ntshangase said he was not aware of any conflict between the two races.

He said apartheid played a role in segregating the two races when the Group Areas Act was introduced in the 60s, interfering with their way of living together without boundaries before 1949.

“Nevertheless, the older generation is tolerant because they were once exposed to that environment. The new generation was born in segregation and at times, is intolerant. Post 1994, the Group Areas Act broke away but there are still areas that are underdeveloped,” Ntshangase said.

Sociologist Ashwin Desai defended Phuzekhemisi’s right to express himself.

“I do not consider it hate speech. It reflects the everyday life of South Africa in which we frame things in racial terms,” he said.

Asked if it damaged the quest for social cohesion, Desai said: “In a country with the highest inequality in the world, an unemployment rate of 40 percent… to talk of social cohesion is a myth. He [Phuzekhemisi] does not damage it; he exposes the poverty of the concept.”

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