Philani Mzila
The funeral of Kwaito band member Emmanuel “Mjokes” Matsane was held on Saturday, and it wasn’t quite the quiet and sombre affair everyone expected.
Fellow band member Eugene Mthethwa interrupted one of the speakers, MEC Mbali Hlophe, to attack the national and provincial Departments of Arts and Culture.
“Why is it taking so long to provide relief funds when the departments are quick to sponsor funerals?” Mthethwa asked in the middle of Hlophe’s speech.
“We have a history of artists dying poor in South Africa, yet the Departments of Arts and Culture become prominent in our lives when we die,” said Mthethwa.
“There is not even a single statement from the very MEC who now comes to the funeral and reads an essay about our history that she doesn’t know.”
He said artists were faced with the effects of the pandemic and were jobless – but no relief funds were forthcoming.
Mthethwa is not new to controversy. In February, he chained himself to a lamppost at the Samro building to protest against the organisation’s refusal to pay him royalties that he claimed he was entitled to.
Singer Sbongile Mngoma and other artists staged a sit-in at NAC which is in Gauteng where the MEC is stationed, but she never visited them.
Speaking to Scrolla.Africa, Mthethwa said his protest was a way to say that artists can’t be bullied by a government that is supposed to protect and help them maintain a livelihood.
“Kwaito is a culture and we as performers must tell its story while we are still alive,” he said.
Matsane died in a car accident a week ago. He was laid to rest at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg.
Picture source: @CWUSA4U
