Twitterati trash Brickz
VENOM FLOWS OVER PERFORMANCE WHILE OUT ON BAIL
The organisers of the Mzansi Kwaito and House Music Awards have come to the defence of convicted rapist and kwaito star Sipho “Brickz” Ndlovu, saying his performance at the awards show was about honouring an agreement.
News that Ndlovu was to perform last night at the launch of the music awards in Soweto left a bitter taste in the mouths of many social media users, including poet and musician Ntsiki Mazwai, who vehemently opposed it on Twitter.
As some commentators noted, Brickz’s performance comes just days after the #TotalShutdown marches, which saw thousands of women across the country call for an end to gender-based violence.
The Sweetie My Baby hitmaker was found guilty of the rape of his then 15-year-old orphaned niece at his home in Ruimsig, west of Johannesburg, in 2013.
In April this year, he was granted bail of R80 000 pending the appeal against his conviction, which saw him get a 15-year jail sentence.
Yesterday, event organiser Thulani Malinga corroborated the statement of the founder and chief executive of the awards, Perfecta Khumalo.
She earlier told eNCA that Nd- lovu would perform for free at the event because he owed the organisation money as he had received payment for a performance that he could not deliver as he was already in prison by then.
“Brickz has been performing at other events after he was released from prison and no one has made a noise about it.
“We’ve been knocking on all media houses’ doors looking for partnerships, but no one wanted to assist.
“Now that there’s negative publicity over the event, everyone wants a piece of us,” Malinga said.
“We had paid Brickz to perform at our event long ago in 2016, and then he couldn’t.
“When he was released from prison, he had no money so he agreed to perform for free this year.
“We are funding the event ourselves and we don’t make any money from it.”
Ndlovu’s first performance after leaving prison in April was two weeks later at a reggae event in downtown Johannesburg.
He was not available for comment. – ANA & Citizen reporter