SOUTH AFRICAN music legend, Hugh Masekela has lamented the plight of
Africans, saying the continent has achieved political freedom for many
years yet it did not reflect in the lives of the African people.

He said: “We have been politically free for so long but we are not improving. The quality of life is not improving. I am not blaming politicians.

I am just saying that somehow some people are not doing their job that is why Africa is poor. We should be asking the people in government why they are in positions where they can help and still watch the people suffer.”

He made these comments when he visited the offices
of DAILY GUIDE last Thursday. His visit was part of activities to fraternise with the media in Ghana.

With him was Kiki Banson, chief executive of EKB Records, producers of the young rising music star, Becca, who launched her new album ‘Sugar” last Friday at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra.

According to Masekela, many African citizens were not living better lives.

“The biggest enemy we are facing in Africa is poverty. Many African are living in poverty, all because we’ve just been sucked dry by the powers that be. We don’t own our continent. We don’t own the wealth of our continent. Our political freedom has not influenced positively any of these ravaging conditions”.

The music legend further said “if you go to Central Africa Republic, Somalia, Chad and Sudan or the Congo, the situation is rough as people are really kept in hell and dying in poverty.”

According to him, Africans are no longer living in safe environments, citing the recent shooting of reggae music legend, Luck Dube by unknown gunmen. However, he observed, the only way the situation could be tackled is for political leaders to sit up and do their job responsibly.

When asked why musicians used their music to only entertain instead of using it to tackle social problems as people still lived in abject poverty, he said music is a universal language that cannot be used to blame one for inadequacies, saying when music is criticized, musicians are always witch-hunted.

“We went through that in South Africa when our records were burnt. But it didn’t stop the people from getting our records and protesting against the ‘wrong things’,” he indicated.

About his musical life, Hugh said he become a musician from the time he started thinking. As to whether he loved to do something else apart from music, he said “I never wanted to get involved in anything but music and it turned out to be a good choice for me.”

He indicated that most African businesses and political communities do not promote music. According to him attention is given the arts only when important occasions are organized.

He said South Africa was one of the countries deeply rooted in music during the apartheid era but currently “there is no music happening at all there.”

He said one could only go out and have fun with music only during summer festivals. Stating the cause, he said there was no conducive environment for the arts in South Africa.
“Somebody is not doing his job.

If the South African society is safe people like Lucky would be alive,” he lamented.