A rap song in which the vigilante group Western Vhukovhela Security Unit is praised, has local residents fuming. The song was played on Phalaphala FM last week, which triggered an immediate complaint to the BCCSA (Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa).
The chairperson of the Madombidzha Crime Combat Committee, Mr Patrick Sikhutshi, raised the issue with the BCCSA, saying that it had infuriated the local community.
The song, Western Vhukovhela ndihayani, was played on Wednesday, 8 February, during the station's afternoon drive show, VenRap Five. In the lyrics the artists, who call themselves Vhathenga, describe Western Vhukovhela as fighters against crime. The lyrics warn that those who are still doing crime are being watched (by the group).
Sikhutshi pointed out that several members of this vigilante group are currently trial-awaiting prisoners. They were arrested in October last year in different cases, on charges ranging from murder to kidnapping. Five members of the unit had allegedly confessed to killing members of the local community and on 29 January pointed out to the police the sites where they had buried their victims in shallow graves. The bodies of a man and a woman were exhumed at different locations at Gogobole and Rathidili (Tshikhwani) in the Sinthumule area.
Sikhutshi accused the producer of the Phalaphala FM programme of being irresponsible and insensitive to the suffering of the people. "We demand to know what this compiler [of the song list] has to do with these thugs. We further requested that the song be removed from all SABC stations," he said.
Phalaphala FM's programme's manager, Ms Sharon Ravele, responded on Tuesday by apologising to the community. She said that after listening to the lyrics of the song they had decided to remove it from the station's playlists.