Artists endorse Crime Awareness Campaign

By Tawanda Ngena

Music is a powerful medium, not only does it entertain but it influences a large majority (especially the young ones) and thus, the onus is always on the artists themselves to preach, as it were, positive messages in their songs and embrace their social responsibilities.

Noone concurs with this assertion more than Salma Pelesi, the Arts Director for Mabvuku/Tafara Arts and Sports Development Committee (Masdec).

Her organization partnered with the Mabvuku Police Public Relations office in a Crime Awareness campaign in which upcoming musicians, namely Sizzy Boy, Gold Rings ,Predator, Yung Wayne and New Kid recorded songs whose themes went hand in hand with the campaign.

One of those songs was titled 'Siyai MaDrugs', a song that appeals to the youths to desist from drug abuse. At a time when reports suggest that there is a rise in drug abuse ampng the teens, the importance of this song, among others, is not lost.

According to Pelesi, the songs were released on the day of the Crime Awareness campaign which took place on the 10th of December.

"We have come up with a markerting strategy where we give CDs containing the crime awareness songs to the main stakeholders of Mabvuku/Tafara community (our hope is to include the police themselves) as most of them make contact with the public everyday during their operations", she said.

The Masdec Arts Director also went on to say that she felt that it was important for artists to be recognized for the role they play in any society regardless of their background.

" As an arts platform, our hope is for our community artists to be trusted and be given the voice to become ambassadors for social issues affecting their listeners and as well being given the duty to perform at any of the events/campaigns by stakeholders in the community and even the nation at large.

"l have came to realise that, regardless of one's background in music, artists are one in the same and they should not be discriminated against as they are the voice of the community. Having our own local artists performing at the Mabvuku Police Crime Awareness campaign was quite the highlight for me", she said.

Pelesi believes that it is through such partnerships as that between Masdec and the Mabvuku Police that the local arts sector can learn from and grow.

" It is through such projects that our own local arts industry can become vibrant and relevant to our own communities. We would like to thank the Mabvuku Police for this opportunity to work together with them for the good of our community and we look forward to working with them (among other stakeholders) on many more such ventures", she said.

Salma, who is also part of 'sister' organization, Celebrity Arts Trust (in a respective capacity) said that the arts were her main inspiration and working with fellow artists in addressing social issues affecting her community was enough motivation for her.

Because of the overwhelming response they had received from their community and its stakeholders, she said the plan now was to spread these and other such campaigns to other communities across the country as well.

"The response was beyond any expectation that we could ever have imagined, it was quite amazing and you could see it from those who attended the event and the feedback that we are still receiving even today.

" So naturally, we intend to make this campaign a culture everyone can (and should) adopt in their own community to reduce the crime rate especially among the teens",  said Pelesi.

Following the success of the Crime Awareness campaign, plans are afoot for the Arts Sub committee of Masdec to launch an Arts Awareness program which will involve all arts stakeholders from Mabvuku/Tafara in addressing the social issues affecting their community 'in a fashionable, visual and performing arts style'.

The Crime awareness campaign's main aim, according to one Sergeant Chauke from the Public Relations Department of the Mabvuku Police was to educate and impart knowledge about the dangers of substance abuse ,early marriages and sexual abuse and help youths engage in more constructive activities during the holiday season.