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ARTISTS IN FULL SUPPORT OF 20-DAY LOCKDOWN

By Setsabile Nkambule | 2020-03-26

artists fully support of the 20-day partial lockdown by the country.

The decision was announced by government through Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, who said the number of people in a gathering has been decreased from 50 to 20.

The prime minister announced that the kingdom would be on a 20-day partial lockdown starting from tomrrow until April 16.

Artists and event organisers shared their thoughts on the issue which would impact on their careers.

Songbird Nomalungelo said the decision by government was great as they had to prioritise the health of the nation at large.

She said it was necessary to take precautions as the future of the world depended on it.

“Our health care system will not have the capacity and resources to provide adequate healthcare for the people if we let this pandemic run rampant. As the arts, we need to support efforts aimed at eliminating this problem,” she said.

Event organiser and DJ Khwephe said health of the nation must be prioritised.

He said although this was bad for every business, it was a great idea as it would ensure everyone’s safety.

“For business people this is bad, but as a nation at large, we have to open our eyes and see how bad things are. There is no other way this could have been done other than limiting movements of people. The virus has destroyed people’s careers, especially in the entertainment world and we hope soon it will disappear and things go back to normal,” he said.

DJ and entertainment manager DJ Culolami said it was better to lose money than lives.

He said he supported the prime minister and government’s decision and hoped this would stop the spread of the virus.

“We are still a developing country, so we do not have the equipment to protect the population from the virus.

We should use affordable means, having lesser people is one precaution which can reduce the spread of the virus,” he said.

“It is time we use the investments we have and put it into other business opportunities. These are the times where you need to use your savings wisely, research about a good business you can engage in and we can also do more music,” Culolami said.

Dj Valz said the decision by government did not make much of a difference as the entertainment industry was already affected.

“COVID-19 really hit hard on industry so reducing the number of people in a gathering from does not make any difference because we could not host any show for 50 people. As much as this is not good for us entertainers I think it was necessary because if this virus or we could lose our lives,” he said.

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