BBK Unplugged Trampling on women, burning and looting. What a mess!
● Ziya-po ya-ya, pa-pa-ya-pa! Ti-da-lee, na po-po pu-du-loo! Ste-na-peh na-na po po-ro po!
Africa unite
’Cause we’re moving right out of Babylon
And we’re going to our Father’s land How good and how pleasant it would be Before God and man, yeah
To see the unification of all Africans, yeah
As it’s been said already
Let it be done, yeah
We are the children of the Rastaman We are the children of the Iyaman
So, Africa unite,
’Cause our children wanna come home, yeah
’Cause we’re moving right out of Babylon
And we we’re grooving to our Father’s land ...
Africa unite
Africa, Africa unite, yeah!
Unite for the benefit of your people! Unite for it’s later than you think! Unite for the benefit of my children! Unite for it’s later than you think! Africa awaits its creators!
Africa awaiting its creator!
Africa, you’re my forefather cornerstone!
Unite for the Africans abroad!
Unite for the Africans a yard!
The above lyrics aren’t a call for you to join me as a Bob Marley fan.
Rather, they are a plea, an attempt to prick your conscience in light of the brutally heavy week in the turbulent life of our violent country.
The wanton raping of the women of the nation whose body count continues to rise as if there is some sick competition among murderous men.
Squalor, disease, poverty, inequality, corruption, oppression ... is the order of the day
The Afrophobia is accompanied by the burning and looting. There is a war raging. Because squalor, disease, poverty, inequality, corruption, oppression and suppression are the order of the day.
As soccer supporters, football fans — call us what you want — we don’t exist in a vacuum. We come from this society of shame. We can’t wonder that the end to the bedlam will come in yonder.
When we go watch football, the most loved sport on the African continent, those 90 minutes take our minds away from the misery that has become the bane of our existence.
Momentarily, we forget about leaders who have moved from triumphant liberators to tyrant oppressors.
Cheering on our heroes is an escape from the false and empty promises. It is a momentary blur from the lip service of poor, if not non-existent service delivery.
The so-called leaders are the authors of the disillusion. They bellow out hollow statements. Pronouncements of imminent, yet imaginary arrests are made from lofty pulpits. In truth, they are just empty rhetoric in this crime scene of a gangster state we call home.
Once the leaders are done spewing bile, they promptly return to be secured in comfort, safety and security in their expensive homes built at our expense.
In true fashion of its strength to unify, top football coaches in the country united to condemn this violence visited by Africans on fellow Africans. They spoke in unison in condemning the spate of gender violence, placing football at the centre of spreading a message of peace, tolerance and unity. Hats off to all involved in the endeavour, Thulani Thuswa in particular.
Further evidence that football knows no Afrophobia, a South African, Senzo Mbatha, is chief of Simba Sports Club Tanzania, a club once coached by former Bafana Bafana coach Trott Moloto.
Last month Thabo Senong was appointed head coach of Likuena, the Lesotho senior men’s side.
Trampling on women, burning and looting, what a mess! Make love and not war!
As Marley tells us: 'We don't need no trouble. What we need is love, To guide and protect us on. If you hope good down from above, Help the weak if you are strong now.
Twitter: @bbkunplugged99