SOUTH Africa’s Babes Wodumo has been dropped from the
forthcoming Mapopoma Festival taking place in Victoria Falls because of her
xenophobic tweets last week.
The Queen of Gqom was supposed to perform at the festival
in December. Last week, during the height of xenophobic attacks in Mzansi,
Babes Wodumo ‘tweeted’ that she was fed up with Zimbabweans and Nigerians and
called for them to go back to their countries.
She later said her Twitter account had been hacked. Zimbabweans
would not have any of that and demanded that the Durbanite be removed from the
Mapopoma Fest line-up.
In a statement issued yesterday, Mapopoma Festival
organisers said Babes Wodumo’s performance has been shelved because of those
tweets.
“This serves to advise our valued stakeholders, sponsors
and all those that had bought early-bird tickets that Babes Wodumo will no
longer be performing at the second edition of Mapopoma Festival slated for
Victoria Falls Club from 29-31 December 2019 in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
“This decision was reached after extensive consultations
between Babes Wodumo’s management and the Mapopoma Festival Board of Directors
after the controversial xenophobic tweets from her official Twitter account
wherein Babes Wodumo alleges that she was hacked.”
The statement said Babes’ safety was also compromised,
hence their decision to protect her.
“The reaction from the public points to the fact that Babes
Wodumo’s safety and security at the festival is seriously compromised and as
such, it was mutually resolved that her performance at the festival be
cancelled due to these growing security concerns,” read the statement.
The organisers apologised to those involved in the festival
including fans adding that the event would go on as scheduled.
“Mapopoma Festival would like to apologise to all its
stakeholders for the inconvenience that arises from this cancellation of Babes
Wodumo’s performance.
“The Festival is going ahead according to plan and Mapopoma
Festival will in the next coming weeks, avail more exciting headline acts that
are expected to give revellers a memorable 2019 shutdown. We expect to
celebrate our culture and embrace the spirit of love and Ubuntu that binds us
all as African brothers and sisters.”
It remains to be seen whether Babes Wodumo’s boyfriend
Mampintsha, who will be performing with Big Nuz, will travel to Zimbabwe without
his heart throb. Other artistes who have been unveiled so far are Gqom duo
Distruction Boyz. Chronicle
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