"Stop this tribalism madness" - musician Penny Penny

The scourge of tribalism that is reportedly tearing communities apart, came under fire when well-known musician Eric Nkovani called it worse than the Ebola and Aids virus.

During a courtesy visit to the Matsila Royal palace at Matsila at the weekend, the musician, better known as Penny Penny, said that he was saddened to see “the demon of tribalism raising its ugly head again.”

Nkovani's visit comes against the backdrop of polarised relations between communities of Vuwani and Malamulele, following the municipal demarcation issue in the area that has torn communities apart. "We are here to see for ourselves. We have heard of the good work Chief Matsila is doing for his community. We also know that he is leading a mixed community living in harmony and peace.”

He said that members of the community were worried that there were people “who are dividing us like it happened in the apartheid era. This time around it is worse with the emergence of individuals who are pursuing their business and political ambitions, who are hell-bent on dividing people along tribal lines.”

He further indicated that the people are being used “by the selfish individuals who have an interest in the political setting because of the new municipal boundaries. Our meeting was not in vain here. This is also a way to show that we are one; there is no Venda, Tsonga or Pedi, but one nation. We are all Africans and we should work as one for development," added Nkovani.

He said he was very impressed by the efforts of Chief Livhuwani Matsila, who had gone all out to bring development in his area. "We have seen and learnt a lot and our meeting has been very fruitful and there is a project in the pipeline - details of which will be made known in due course.”

The host, Chief Livhuwani Matsila, said they had a very fruitful session. "We have a lot in common with Penny Penny. He loves development, which we are doing here and we together realised that there could not be development when people are divided along tribal lines.”

Matsila added that they were investigating opportunities to heal relations. “We will from time to time identify a traditional leader and we will visit and spend a day discussing issues of development and social cohesion. As part of our programme, we will host traditional dance competitions, hopefully in partnership in partnership with Munghana Lonene FM and Phalaphala FM,” he added.

Date:18 June 2017

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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