Local DJs urges gov't to meet them half way
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday November 27, 2020 15:17
From the onset of COVID-19, DJs and singers together with other creative industry minds lost lots of money after their events got either cancelled or postponed. National lockdowns made things worse for artists. Later on, the government decided to open up for the business community more especially liquor selling outlets.
Hearing this, local artists later called on the government to open up events after many cried that they were dying of hunger while the government was not assisting them at all at the time.
The government took heed of their cry and announced that only 50 people were allowed at the events.
However, that came with many other COVID-19 guidelines that included not allowing alcohol at the events, social distancing just to mention but a few. Many artists expressed a great disappointment over the turn of events. In an interview with Arts & Culture, Tlhwaafalang Tebogo also known as DJ Twaza behind the decks said they were dying of hunger. He further said what the government is doing to artists was wrong.
“If we did anything to anger the government we humbly apologize but if we did nothing wrong, I beg those in power to freeze their salaries for five months and see if they can survive. Re sokotse go lekane! I want them to feel what we are feeling as artists. We are going through dire poverty. I acknowledge that we are affected by the virus but our cases are not than other countries yet they have fully opened for events so that the creative industry can contribute towards uplifting of the economy,” he said.
He further stated that other affected countries had fully opened for events and festivals. He questioned why the country couldn’t do the same, as it was not affected by COVID-19 like others.
He also stated that he was receiving bookings from South Africa but he could not do anything about it looking at the expenses. He said the government must open everything back to normal.
For his part, DJ Thoko said they were dying of hunger. He pointed out that he had not hosted any show since the beginning of this year.
He called on the government to use the World Health Organisation (WHO) mass gathering guidelines and open events allowing 50% capacity.
He also called on the government to allow events to be held during the day, as it is easy to control the crowd comparing to at night.