#DemLoot reggae song goes viral in Zimbabwe

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

#DemLoot reggae song goes viral in Zimbabwe

11:06 CAT | 03 Feb 2021

Picture: Twitter

The hashtag #DemLoot is trending in Zimbabwe after a investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono posted a video of himself singing a reggae track about alleged rampant state corruption.

“Lord have mercy, mercy, mercy; hospitals no medication, dem loot; ghetto youths no jobs, dem loot; no water to drink in townships, dem loot,” the lyrics go:

Find me a good music producer, we must sing AGAINST LOOTERS and sing them out of town!😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/1rMcSORsaY

— Hopewell Chin’ono #NoToLooters (@daddyhope) January 31, 2021

Now the #DemLootChallenge has now taken off with people posting their own versions, like this one from a jazz musician:

Here is a soulful version of #DemLoot by Jazz musician and creative @Vera_zw #DemLoot is an anti-corruption and anti-LOOTING anthem against the Zimbabwean political elites who are stealing public funds depriving hospitals and other public services of funding, resulting in deaths pic.twitter.com/x4gk83dMES

— Hopewell Chin’ono #NoToLooters (@daddyhope) February 1, 2021

And one using the country’s traditional instrument, the mbira:

Ambuya vaElla heard about the #DemLoot challenge from her grandchild, and she thought that it was a great tool in fighting LOOTING & Corruption!

So she picked her Mbira & sang her own version because rural people are the most affected by State LOOTING of public funds!#DemLoot pic.twitter.com/A7OUaIaSw3

— Hopewell Chin’ono #NoToLooters (@daddyhope) February 2, 2021

And this remix:

This video was mixed by 1 of Africa’s smartest minds, a Mathematician & Statistician, Edzai Zvobwo @edzaizv
It is testament that music is a unique tool to engage on serious issues like Corruption!

Do you know that Zimbabwe loses US$1.2 billion of Gold yearly to LOOTING!#DemLoot pic.twitter.com/W2mRZl0V6J

— Hopewell Chin’ono #NoToLooters (@daddyhope) February 2, 2021

Chin’ono, a critic of the government, posted the song a few days after being granted bail.

He was kept in prison for nearly three weeks on charges relating to communicating a false story, after retweeting a video that alleged to show a policeman beating a baby to death – an account that has been denied.

The journalist, who helped expose an alleged Covid-19 procurement scandal last year, faces various other court cases.

Last year he was held in custody for a month after being charged with inciting violence for tweeting about a planned anti-government demonstration.

He says he is being targeted for criticising President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.

“I was in my study – was just playing music and then I started singing about this because it was on my mind,” he told the AFP news agency.

“And I just sort of compressed what I was thinking about during the day into a song and then posted it on Tweeter and it went viral.”

Source: BBC