South African singer Makhadzi has publicly apologised to fans and followers after facing criticism over comments she made regarding the upcoming anti-immigration protest organised by the March and March movement.
The award-winning musician took to X to issue an apology after trending on the platform, where some social media users accused her of fuelling tribalism and spreading misinformation.
“I am not going to stop asking you to forgive me. I am not tribalistic, I just didn’t know things would turn out like this. Kindly please forgive me, my fellow South Africans. I still repeat, I am not against March and March,” she wrote.
Makhadzi accompanied the apology with a video of herself singing her song “We Are One”, featuring Dr Skaro.
The controversy stems from comments she made on June 1 regarding the planned national shutdown scheduled for June 30. The protest has been organised by the anti-illegal immigration group March and March.
At the time, Makhadzi expressed concerns about the safety of Tshivenda and Xitsonga-speaking South Africans during the demonstrations.
The singer explained that her worries were influenced by videos circulating on social media, including one showing a Zulu-speaking man asking a Venda-speaking man to produce identification documents.
According to Makhadzi, she was concerned that some South Africans may not be familiar with Tshivenda and could mistakenly assume that those speaking the language are foreign nationals.
“You can imagine in your country someone asking for your ID because you look a certain way and your language is not familiar to others,” she said.
“As we all look forward to 30 June, I am really worried about our people who are working in Gauteng who don’t know English and can only speak Tshivenda.”
She added that the videos she had seen suggested that some people were mistaking Tshivenda for a foreign language.
“Because by the videos we see online, it shows that our brothers from other tribes are not really familiar with our language, and when we speak, mostly from the videos I have watched, it’s like Tshivenda is a foreign language, hence they end up asking for IDs,” she said.
Makhadzi said her concerns were rooted in what she believes is a lack of exposure to South Africa’s diverse languages and cultures.
“How are we going to deal with this whole situation on the 30th? Must we go around with IDs or what? There are already videos online where they attack foreigners. There’s always a Venda or Tsonga person involved, being asked to prove their identity,” she said.
The singer also acknowledged that she could have handled the matter differently and apologised to those who were offended by her remarks.
“I am so sorry once again to all my people who were offended. We learn every day. Next time, I will keep quiet until I find a good way to approach any situation and the looming 30 June deadline for illegal foreigners to leave the country,” she said.
