Radio interview about how COVID-19 is affecting me as arts and culture person

22 April 2020
By Mmabore
GaMogashoa, Sekhukhune

Today I had an interview at SKFM about challenges that I face as an artist and what is happening:
I was asked about the music awards I was nominated for and because of COVID-19 voting is still on but the awards ceremony has been postponed from 30 May 2020. We are not sure when Corona will end the new date has not being set. I was supposed to perform at Belabela on 28 March 2020 and Johannesburg in April 2020 but the events have been postponed. Artist only get paid when they perform or sell their products so I lost income. I am also unable to sell the book I co-authored titled ‘Excuse my color’ to people as we must stay at home. I hope that people will buy the book online. My 2020 Sepedi music Ulbum also was supposed to be released and because of the virus we had to delay it a bit.

How is Corona affecting people in my village?
People at my village are all confused because it is one village that most of the people are not working and COVID-19 will make things worse. People have registered for food parcels but we are not sure as to when they will get them.

My advice was:
People should stay at home and go out if is necessary. They should do something that can help them and get information on how they can run their small businesses. People can use their talents to create jobs. I also encouraged people to support local businesses so that locals can grow their businesses and be able to feed their loved ones. Small business owners also need education on how they can run their businesses professionally but the challenge is what about those who cannot use technology?

People from my village and other areas called to congratulate me and one caller asked what should be done. The time was short but I could feel that people still have questions as to what can be done as Corona is stopping everything.