Burna Boy Cancels South Africa Concerts Over Safety Fears

Nigerian singer-songwriter Burna Boy has cancelled two highly anticipated concerts in South Africa following “increasing threats of violence”, according to a statement released by organisers.

The star was due to appear alongside fellow artists Kwesta and Jidenna in Cape Town and Pretoria over the weekend in what had been dubbed ‘Africans Unite’ concerts.

Burna Boy sparked controversy earlier in the year when he vowed not to go back to South Africa until the government “wakes up”, following a spate of xenophobic attacks in the country, largely aimed at Nigerians.

He tweeted he had his own “xenophobic experiences at the hands of South Africans” in 2017.

Though the singer U-turned on this promise, instead saying he would play there but donate part of the profits to victims of xenophobia.

Announcing the concerts on twitter, Burna Boy wrote “The first of many!  Part of the proceeds will be donated to the victims of Xenophobic attacks by me!  I really hope we can all keep contributing in our own way to make the world a better and safer place for each other”.

The decision was not greeted kindly by all, and a group calling themselves the Tshwane Entertainment Collective wrote a critical letter to the government.

It read “Whoever may have deemed that the country needs a PR exercise of this nature would have done so largely as a result of the callous, misleading and unwarranted incitement by this very artist.

“Not only did he spread falsehoods through his extensive platform, he literally incited violence and hate”.

The concert organisers, Phambili Media, released a statement explaining the cancellation, citing Tshwane Entertainment Collective’s call for a boycott and the “increasing threats of violence and other unfortunate segments from the public”.

It said “The safety of all attendees, artist and crew comes first”.