Award-winning maskandi artist Mlungisi Khuzani Ndlovu, popularly known as uGatsheni, has broken his silence following an incident that saw fans attacking rising star Naledi Aphiwe while she was performing.
The disturbing incident, characterised by the hurling of missiles, took place on Saturday evening at Mthandeni’s event.
uGatsheni was one of the artists booked for the Mthandeni Summer Experience held in KwaZulu Natal.
When Naledi began performing during uGatsheni’s allotted time, fans began throwing bottles at her.
In a statement on Monday, uGatsheni said he initially told himself that he was not going to comment on what happened between him and Naledi.
“I believe that there were many beautiful moments from that event that should have trended,” he said in a statement.
“As a person, it is important to have emotional intelligence; this is what my team and I implemented when the incident took place.”
You get what you give
He went on to say that people ought to consider what irritated others and caused the ensuing outrage.
“People were annoyed because their favourite artist was disrespected by a little girl who walked on stage as if we were not in the middle of our performance,” he said.
“In life you get what you give; if you give us respect, you will be respected.”
Time is typically not kept at events like this, he explained, and as a result, artists are frustrated backstage when they do not perform during their allotted times.
“I do wish to meet up with Naledi and her team because it is important to clear her name in public so she can be free to work with the maskandi genre in the future.”
The Umalume hitmaker went on to say that he dislikes the circulating rumours that he and Mthandeni are at odds, saying they are on good terms and have a good relationship.
