HARASSED: Thembi Seete wasn’t allowed near the stage. Picture by: Tebogo Letsie

‘Security guards came and ordered us to leave the vicinity’

Macufe’s Friday festival resembled an animal farm, with international artists treated like holy cows while local artists and the media were treated like sewer rats the cat had dragged home.

As if they were terrorists posing a threat to US President Barack Obama, local musos and TV crews were harassed with impunity and prohibited from standing next to the stage on which the Yankee rap artist T-Pain performed.

Instead of leaving because of the two-cent treatment, our artists waited like dogs wagging their tails for their masters to serve them a bowl of meat .

It is alleged that the most embarrassing moment was when award-winning Afro- house group Rhythmic Elements and JR, among others, were yanked out of the backstage facility in which they changed their clothes to make way for T-Pain, who didn’t want to share the space with the local lot.

A mini drama unfolded when SABC1’s Live crew member Phila Mazibuko was barred from shooting T-Pain’s performance.

It is alleged that as they stood around like rain-drenched chickens, 999 Music boss Arthur Mafokate took up the cudgels and fought for them to shoot the rapper, which they eventually did.

The main event on Saturday had its own glitches as sound engineers and hospitality became a problem.

Speaking to Sunday World, Thembi Seete confirms that she was harassed by the security guards.

“I want to thank Macufe organisers for allowing me to perform there, but what happened to me was unacceptable,” she says.

“I wasn’t allowed to stand next to the stage when T-Pain was performing. It is sad that these US artists think they are all that and treat local artists the way they treated us.”

Seete’s manager Kgomo Modise said some of his other artists, such as Theo Kgosinkwe, had a confrontation with the security guards moments before T-Pain’s performance.

“My artist was seated next to the stage waiting to perform when local security guards came and ordered us to leave the vicinity.

“We asked him why because we had ‘all access’ cards and artists tags but he insisted we leave the place. It was only when we threatened to expose them in the media that they left us alone.

“It is bad that local artists are treated like this every time an international artist is here,” he says.

Rhythmic Elements and JR could not be drawn for comment at the time of going to press. Concert organiser Joe Chakela says he was not aware that people were chased away backstage.

“People must not come with their own stories. Nobody was manhandled or chased away from the stage. The policy was that artists who had finished performing must not go on stage or near it to watch T-Pain performing,” says Chakela.

He says the policy did not only apply to T-Pain’s performance but to all the artists.