Kwaito - Politics

Politics

While many assert Kwaito's apolitical character, it is worthwhile to note that a refusal to deal with the contemporary realm of politics is an extremely political statement that denounces the political status quo. In the words of renown Rastafarian teacher Leachim Tufani Semaj, "Whether you deal with politics or not, politics will deal with you. The statement that one does not deal in politics is in effect a political statement." While a notion in reference to a Jamaican cultural context, this concept remains true throughout a world of oppression and responsive conscientious objection. Kwaito is often thought of as a means of recreation and escapism as a genre that looks to the future instead of to the past. While apartheid is no longer in place, South Africa continues to be riddled with social problems that demand to be addressed in the realm of culture creation. HIV/AIDS and the increase in violent crimes since the end of Apartheid are among the problems facing the youth of South Africa. In other words, the absence of Apartheid-related subject material in kwaito songs should not be seen as an absence of a political awareness and activism but rather as a shift in socio-political focus. Kwaito artist OscarwaRona recalls, "We used to do tracks where we would ask why is the divorce rate so high? Why are little children being found in shabeens drinking?" The aftermath of a system of racial subjugation that was in place for centuries is equally demanding of attention as the atrocities that occurred during apartheid.