A South African top DJ, record producer, and founder of the record label Afrotainment, DJ Tira, nearly lost his eye when a thrown beer bottle hit him in the face while he was performing on stage at the University of Venda on Saturday morning.
Fortunately, the bottle only injured him underneath his eye, but he was forced to leave the stage. The Malume hitmaker then posted a video on his Twitter account with the caption: Traumatic experience this morning at University of Venda.
Some of the fans on Twitter said it was so disappointing to see the unruly behaviour shown by students. The Zulu Asgardian said: This is exactly (what) happens when you perform in front of a crowd dominated by barbarians. Askies Makoya. This is terrible.
Oteng R Lamola said: I hope you will not punish everyone who doesn't support such nonsense by no longer accepting bookings in Univen.
Prince said: Your live performances are everything. I am surprised with the behaviour at Univen, maybe they were too excited.
Some of the artists who performed include Heavy K, SABC's 2018 song of the year winner Master KG, Vhuyi the DJ, Racha Kill, Epidems and Sky Walker SA.
The president of the Univen SRC, Mr Tsundzuka Hakamela, condemned "the barbaric behaviour" and promised a safer reception in future. "We wish to humbly apologise to Malume DJ Tira and the entire music industry and further declare once more Univen as the home of all our artists and commit ourselves to ensuring a much safer and better reception next time. We promise to deal decisively with all those involved, as they are known to us," Hakamela said.
Hakamela further said: Univen loves you Malume DJ Tira. We further wish to thank all our dear students for having refused to allow the perpetrators of acts of jealousy to derail what turned out to be a very successful event, turning up in such large numbers and for behaving themselves very well. We are not perfect, but we promise to keep doing our best to remain as humble servants to all of you.
In a media statement, the MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture, Ms Thandi Moraka, expressed concern and condemned the incident. "I am making a call to all our communities to refrain from such barbaric and violent acts. There can never be a reason that justifies such attacks on our artists as we are governed by the laws of the country and anarchy won't be tolerated," she said. According to her, "what happened at the University of Venda is unfortunate and there will never be a no-go zone area for any artist in the province of Limpopo".