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Corruption Watch has collaborated with feisty young up and coming artist Fiesta Black, to create a hard-hitting song that expresses the exasperation that many people feel about the high levels of corruption in South Africa.
The song “Hayi Basile”, which loosely translated means “They are wicked”, is being released by Corruption Watch on 9 December, to coincide with the UN-designated International Anti-Corruption Day. This was established to raise awareness of corruption and of the role of the UN Convention against Corruption in combating and preventing the illegal activity.
Fiesta Black, like many other young South Africans, has experienced the effects of corruption and seen how people so easily get away with illegal actions. Having decided to collaborate with Corruption Watch on this song, she’s using her creativity to voice the frustrations of so many young people who feel powerless in their own country.
David Lewis, executive director of Corruption Watch, explains the organisation’s motivation for collaborating on a house music track that focuses on corruption, why it is targeting young people, and what it hopes to achieve through this.
“The opportunity to work with Fiesta Black was something we could not turn down. She is a wonderful fresh new talent, and we think she has the profile right now to reach young people, and to create a bit of a stir.”
The organisation’s decision to use a song to expose corruption was intentional, Lewis continues. “It was informed in part by the results of a survey we conducted with young people earlier this year, many of whom said that the best way to involve the youth in an anti-corruption campaign would be through music, art or theatre. And it takes us that much closer to our goal of trying to build a culture of activism among the youth in fighting corruption.”
The lyrics profile those in positions of power who lead lavish lifestyles at the expense of others, and how it is ordinary hard-working people who bear the brunt of this. The song also carries a message to the youth that if you condone or offer bribes, you are part of the problem, “just as wicked as them”.
Corruption Watch will be officially launching its Youth Campaign on 19 February 2015 at an event that will feature a performance by Fiesta Black.
Clearly, merely releasing a song will not change things overnight, and this is just one of the channels Corruption Watch is using to get young people involved in the fight against corruption. Other activities include the launch on 9 December of a Pan-African writing and photographic competition, My Corruption Free Africa, which asks entrants from across the continent to submit their stories and images with the theme of “Corruption through my eyes”.
Corruption Watch has also collaborated with FunDza to release a seven-chapter fictional story on the Mxit platform about corruption in the licensing sector, running from 5 – 11 December. The story is also being made available, one chapter a day, on the Corruption Watch website.
For a link to the song go to: www.corruptionwatch.org.za.
For other materials, please download this zip file containing MP3, press release, lyrics, artwork, and snippets for social media.
Download this statement as a PDF.
Contact:
Ronald (Lucky) Menoe – 072 577 8419
David Lewis – 082 576 3748
Moira Campbell – 083 995 4711
Corruption Watch has collaborated with feisty young up and coming artist Fiesta Black, to create a hard-hitting song that expresses the exasperation that many people feel about the high levels of corruption in South Africa.
