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A Cape Town DJ called Terence Williams had to apologise for ‘upsetting many’ with his TikTok video making a ‘joke’ about the minibus taxi strike after media personality Siv Ngesi re-shared it on his Instagram account, calling out Williams.

Klapping the guy with a ‘privilege’ backhand, Siv rightfully pointed out that people were dying, while this guy sits in his own car and celebrates the lack of taxis causing their usual traffic mayhem. Or as the DJ puts it:

“Has anyone noticed how quiet the streets are lately? There hasn’t been a single drop of traffic for the past three days. Everyone’s got smiles on their faces, everyone’s driving [and] the roads are empty. The sun even came out. All the clouds went away.”

“Yes, it is bad, where they are striking they are burning things, but for the rest of us, it’s been wonderful.”

Yes, quite. It’s awesome if you don’t depend on public transport to feed your family. Also, why is everyone in Cape Town a DJ?

Siv’s comeback drew a bit more attention to the post than Williams would have liked: “This is how privilege looks like. It doesn’t matter that many are dying, losing jobs, walking home for hours, companies looted and children getting hurt. Then they say we are playing the ‘race card’.”

In his response, Williams said: “This was made as a joke before s**t hit the fan and people got hurt and stranded. I apologise for upsetting anyone, it wasn’t my intent. This was posted before people were stranded and before things got violent, but I apologise for anyone I have upset.”

 

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A post shared by Siv Ngesi (@sivngesi)

While Siv and the legion of commentators quickly pointed out privilege, racism, and a desire to rather be in Perth, another South African posted a ‘message of hope’ to soothe our collective discomfort.

SA expat and comedian Kevin Fraser, took time out of his stroll next to the Portuguese coastline to let South Africans know that “we are built to last, okay? And in order to see the light, we must weather the storm…”

Fraser, who is based in Australia but is currently in Portugal, shared the ‘motivational video message’ with South Africans back home, bemoaning our electricity crisis and other issues, and saying that his ‘heart just gets pulled.’

If you’re wondering why I am throwing the Fraser video into the DJ post, it’s because it’s equally tone-deaf strolling along a European beach with a perfect tan telling everyone to ‘hang in there kitty’.

While Fraser is living in Oz and holidaying in Lisbon, and DJ Tone-Deaf is enjoying the taxi-free streets, there are people ‘weathering the storm’ without venting their spleens on social media. Thanks for the well-intended words Kevin, but I’d rather subscribe to the lady who is raising funds in Noordhoek to replace the stock a street artist lost in the taxi violence.

If we’re really miffed about the privilege on display, and feel inspired by the Portuguese sunset, why not help Innocent Kasanhai get his beads back so he can feed his family?

That’s how we ‘weather the storm’ – by helping each other out IRL, not posting dumb sh*t on social media.

#hangintherekitty

[source:timeslive&goodthingsguy]