'Your vote is your shield' - Gifa

Chippa Legodimo | Thursday March 13, 2014 16:52

 

But make no mistake, the young man is not a politician.

He is just a politically savvy youth trying to make his countrymen use their voting power.

His single Nelson Mandela released two months ago encourages people, especially the youth, who often find all sorts of excuses not to vote or register for elections to do so.

The single expresses his and maybe even many Batswana’s frustrations.  

Unfulfilled promises lead as reasons people give for failing to register and vote.  Gifa said cast a vote is the only way to show such politicians that people are not happy with their service.

The song’s lyrics kickoff like this: Roma nna morena ke bue taba tsena, ke re roma nna Jehova ke bue le batho, ako o rome nna morena ke bue taba tsene gobane tshaba ena e katetswe ka lemena.

He calls on all to be champions and use their vote to bring change.

Then he shifts to rap lines like, “Leaders are meant to be heroes of their nation/ I wonder why you keep lying to the nation/ You keep on promising/ promising you never deliver/ you say you’d better people’s lives but I see no change/ No houses, no water, no electricity - on the roads when you drive through the villages/ Where are you promises?”

He delivers a combination of Tupac Shakur’s rouge, punchy lines and Franklin’s soft rhymes in Lean On Me resonate in his music.  He closes the track with a little speech:

“This is Gifa - The Answer. I want you all to know that you’ve got the power, you’ve got the vote use it is for the best changes that you want to see. I can be stopped but the idea will live forever”. Nelson Mandela an ideal song for this time of the year by a youth.

With it Gifa could inspire most youths to use their democratic right to vote instead of going on a boycott.