Playwright Mbongeni Ngema’s controversial song ”AmaNdiya” may not be distributed to persons under the age of 18 years, the Film and Publication Board said on Friday.
In terms of Section 17(1)(c) of the Films and Publications Act of 1996, the song has been classified ”R18”, the board said in a government gazette released in Pretoria.
When AmaNdiya was released in May, it elicited protests from political parties and other organisations including the SA Human Rights Commission, which described it as racist hate speech.
Excerpts from a translation of the song include the following:
— ”…Africans struggle so much here in Durban, as we have been dispossessed by Indians”; and
— ”I have never seen Dlamini emigrating to Bombay, India. Yet, Indians arrive everyday in Durban — they are packing the airport full”.
Ngema said the song intended stimulating a discussion on the negative impressions some Africans have of Indians.
On June 28 the Durban High Court granted Ngema permission to promote the record after the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of SA banned the song from the airwaves a week before, saying it amounted to hate speech. – Sapa