The potential inclusion of SA for Beyoncé’s world tour draws mixed criticism
SOUTH Africa has appeared on a leaked list of countries that global mega star Beyoncé could visit as part of her world tour next year.
Although the list is not yet confirmed, some of her local fans couldn’t contain their excitement and are already anticipating the concert.
“Will I have to withdraw my pension fund just to afford a ticket or will my whole month’s salary should be enough?” @VuyoVee09 commented on X.
And while scores of her Mzanzi fans are hoping that the “Lemonade” hitmaker performs in South Africa as part of her “Act II” world tour in 2025, others are not as supportive of her visiting the country.
The global icon, whose full name is Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, performed in South Africa in 2018 at the Global Citizen: Mandela 100 Festival.
But some fans are still sour about her not including any African nations for her first “Act” world tour last year.
The news about Carter potentially performing in South Africa caused an intense debate on social media.
Some are arguing that the musician as well as many other international artists don’t visit the continent during their musical primes.
Apart from Beyoncé, scores of South Africans have also accused the likes of Tamia, Westlife and Boyz II Men of waiting until they needed to revive their careers before they decided to perform here.
These musicians were some of the hottest artists in the 1990s and early 2000s, but only decided to perform in Mzansi in 2023.
Meanwhile, Beyoncé has also been criticised for being silent about the raging conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Many even called for her to be boycotted after she streamed her film “Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé” in Israel.
Soon after that, her fans in that country were trending on TikTok as they sang her song “You Won’t Break My Soul”, while waving the Israeli flag.
This enraged many fans in Mzansi, who even called out their countrymen who supported the superstar.
They believed that these fans were “traitors” for supporting the musician, particularly because of SA’s own history.
This included @danielsunss who wrote on X at the time: “Within the bu**hole of a celebrity who uses current events and politics to suck you in and make money from you, and then spit you out when you ask her to stand up for what she says she believes in.”
@Relebone_ added: “Interesting that she’s now put an African city on the list when there’s rising sentiment against her on the continent because of her silence on the genocide Israel is committing. One thing about capitalists?”
Here are more reactions from South Africans, who have taken issue with Beyoncé’s involvement with Israel:
The South Africans will be there. I know they are working overtime deleting the “boycott B” tweets. https://t.co/XI1C168pgp
— Zinhle_Phala (@ZiinhleZinhle) February 22, 2024
Haybo We forgot about Palestine???
— Nomahelele & Mabena’s wife (@Norxee) February 22, 2024
Or we don’t care https://t.co/mhxN87VTCR
Kanti were you guys not boycotting her, because of her silence on the Palestine genocide?
— Senti•Styles (@__boits) February 22, 2024
Or is that over now? https://t.co/2Txgf9ywp7