EXPOSED: Students claim AKA’s donation was a PR stunt
An angry Wits student has taken to social media to drag AKA for his visit and R100 000 donation, claiming he did it for his own agenda.
The rapper must have been shocked to open his Twitter notifications and find that he was still being roasted. But this time there were no jokes; a bemused student made sure AKA felt the heat of her anger when she called him out for using their ‘Fees Must Fall’ movement as a platform for a publicity stunt.
You may recall that AKA lent his services to protesting students at the beginning of the 2019 Wits Student protests.
In early February, AKA visited the academic institution with meals for the protesting students, and a R100 000 cash injection.
At the time the gesture seemed like a massive sign of support from a public figure. Now, less than a month later, at least one student is beginning to think the motive behind the gesture was a little more selfish.
The disgruntled learner took to Twitter to voice her frustration after AKA spoke about mobilising the masses to assist Babes Wodumo. The young woman, who we know to be named Solami, said in response:
These days, AKA really feels like an activist. And we allowed that. Witsies hyped him when he donated a 100K in a huge publicity stunt that made him look like a good person when in reality, it did nothing for our cause for free education and did everything to boost his ego. https://t.co/n2dcjNZig5
— SOLAMI KHETHIWE BUTHELEZI (@solamibuthelezi) March 6, 2019
And so began a lengthy back-and-forth between AKA and a few students who shared Solami’s sentiments:
Instead of dealing with the fact that fees need to fall, you literally give the university a crutch to rely on celebrity donations which do not cover everyone. Aka should have mobilized all his masses to join us in protest to bring down fees , not help 2 people pay fees.
— SOLAMI KHETHIWE BUTHELEZI (@solamibuthelezi) March 6, 2019
I’m sorry I didn’t do enough to solve the entire problem of historical debt for all students … and you are incorrect … I didn’t arrive in a Range Rover …. it was a BMW 760li. https://t.co/HDtNwJ5VIE
— AKA (@akaworldwide) March 6, 2019
The aim was to inspire others in my position and leaders in our own communities to do the same … or to at least do something. If you want to blame me for not fixing the issue of free education for all … I’ll take it. https://t.co/ddue4QL04t
— AKA (@akaworldwide) March 6, 2019
Because I’m a celebrity … there’s this thing called, the media … they follow me where I go and do stuff. Next time I will hire security to ban them from campus so that nobody can hear about it the next day. https://t.co/qyiyGpFl1q
— AKA (@akaworldwide) March 6, 2019
I had the endorsement of the LEADERSHIP of the democratically elected SRC at WITS … i did what I did standing NEXT to the PRESIDENT of the SRC. So which leadership are you referring to, and since you have so much to say … who do YOU represent? And at what level? https://t.co/Anbvsd8AMU
— AKA (@akaworldwide) March 6, 2019
While AKA decided to politely sit out the rest of the discussion, many others defended him in his absence, claiming that Solami, and a few of the students who agreed with her, were ungrateful:
https://twitter.com/Akhona_PQ/status/1103285081609768961
https://twitter.com/Kaiserin_Mandie/status/1103275124650856448
https://twitter.com/PM_kukuterian/status/1103351000352600065
On which side of this debate does your opinion lie?
Was AKA’s R100 000 donation a big publicity stunt, or are we focusing on the wrong issue altogether here?
Source: AllWomen
