Johannesburg - Award-winning South African author, Zakes Mda, has announced that he will not be using any music from DJ Black Coffee for his upcoming movie because the sought after music maker performed in Israel.
“There are some great Black Coffee sounds that would be ideal for one of the films I’m involved in making. But now, damn, there’s this Israel thing! ...” Mda tweeted.
Top SA entertainer DJ Black Coffee was subject to widespread criticism after he played a show in April in Tel Aviv.
Afro-Palestine Newswire Service reports that the entertainer performed just as Israeli army snipers killed dozens of unarmed Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip during the Great Return March.
Soon after the controversial show, the African National Congress (ANC) called for a cultural boycott of Israel.
“We call on all artists to have an appreciation of the role played by the international anti-apartheid solidarity movement in the successful international isolation of apartheid South Africa …," said Lindiwe Zulu, the chairperson of the ANC’s International Relations Committee.
"The people of Palestine are in a just cause for self-determination and we urge our artists not to form part of the normalisation of Israel’s suppression of the Palestinian people in their quest for self-determination and statehood that mirrors our very own struggle.”
There are some great Black Coffee sounds that would be ideal for one of the films I’m involved in making. But now, damn, there’s this Israel thing! I guess I have to search for some other music though it won’t be as apt for the scene as his.
— Zakes Mda (@ZakesMda) July 14, 2018
The multi award-winning Mda - a liberation struggle veteran who was conferred South Africa’s Order of Ikhamanga in 2014 for his contribution in the field of literature - is a staunch supporter of the boycott movement against Israel, and has previously declined invitations to book fairs in Israel.
DJ Black Coffee, who is on record as saying he "loved" Tel Aviv and that his gig was sold out, has not responded.