Zulu artist receives siSwati Satma

WHITE RIVER –  The 16th annual Satmas ceremony took place at the Premier Hotel The Winkler. Licathazi lika mamzomba singing “Umhlaba ungehlule” received the award and according to community members, this is unfair to the siSwati tribe.

Locals have accused the awards of looking down upon siSwati-speaking artists and allege that they have made them look less important than others. “Umhlaba ungehlule” was nominated in the best siSwati artist/group category, with PM² singing “Sikhanyisele” and Soul Ngwane singing “Luhambo Lwami”.

These two other nominees are siSwatispeaking artists and their songs are sung in siSwati. Satmas are described as awards that showcase the richness of traditional music, the aim is to continuously celebrate and contribute to the growth of South African traditional music/art globally collaborating with cultural organisations with similar goals within our nation.

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Zandile Ndzimande, the CEO of the Satma Awards, acknowledged receiving the inquiry by the newspaper, however, by the time of going to press, she had not responded.

Vusi Thulane Glenton Mazibuko, affectionely known as Passion Master of PM² said, “As a siSwati-singing artist, I am disappointed that a well-respected and known organisation would make such a mistake on something like this.

“The awards are supposed to recognise and honour all the cultural groups. I feel they looked down upon us. “When they award a Zulu-singing artist and a Zulu song, it appears as if the siSwati people do not matter.

“This makes it look like they award a Tsonga song and artist in a siSwati category. We are not angry with the Satmas, we just want them to be aware of this unfair incident. Maybe they made a mistake, although we do not understand how this could happen, because they are supposed to have a panel that listens to the nominees before they decide on the winner.

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“If it was a mistake, they can still fix it by announcing the correct winners who sing in siSwati. It would also be better if they make the announcement on a public platform the very same way they made the announcements on Saturday during the awards ceremony. Maybe a recount of the votes done would also work.” Passion Master said they won a Satma Award in 2019.

“It is not about celebrating the winner, it is about the fact that we expected a siSwati artist and song to be recognised in this category. It is also about respecting the siSwati language,” he concluded.