TikToker shot dead while livestreaming with fans
Siqiniseko Mvelase, 27, a self-styled maskandi reviewer was at his house streaming live to his fans when a gunman accosted him and shot him multiple times.
Image: Supplied
IN a first for South Africa a TikToker, linked to the popular maskandi music genre, was shot dead during a TikTok livestream with his fans watching.
Siqiniseko Mvelase, 27, a self-styled maskandi reviewer was at his house streaming live to his fans when a gunman accosted him and shot him multiple times on Thursday in Dunnator, Ekurhuleni, in Gauteng.
In his dying moments on the livestream at 11:49am, Mvelase is seen looking up from his screen, while multiple gunshots go out shortly thereafter. His phone drops as the screen goes blank.
Mvelase, originally from KwaMaphumulo in KwaZulu-Natal, was a huge fan of maskandi superstar Mthandeni Manqele, a rival of another maskandi superstar Khuzani Mpungose, and didn't hold back at lambasting the latter.
He was kidnapped last year and last month said his account was hacked.
Gauteng Saps spokesperson, Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said the Dunnator police were investigating Mvelase's killing.
"It is reported that the victim was sitting in his yard when accosted by an unknown suspect who shot at him multiple times before fleeing the scene. The motive for the attack is unknown at this stage and police investigations are underway. The deceased is said to have been a maskandi music reviewer on Tik Tok," said Colonel Nevhuhulwi.
Siqiniseko Mvelase, 27, a self-styled maskandi music reviewer is arguably the first social media influencer to be killed while on a livestream with fans.
Image: Supplied
Even though Mvelase has become the first known person in the country to be killed while on a TikTok livestream, he is the second TikToker linked to the popular but toxic rivalry-infested maskandi to be gunned down in the past six months.
In December, TikToker, Dubula Mbatha, 32, from KwaNongoma was shot dead at KwaSteve Carwash and Shisanyama in Malvern, Joburg.
Like Mvelase, Mbatha was passionate about maskandi but was strongly opposed to those who didn't agree with his views and would regularly use expletives during his TikTok livestream to insult those he disagreed with.
Cultural expert and music scholar, Dr Sipho Sithole, who was now a lecturer at Harvard University, USA, teaching Zulu and culture, said the problem started when maskandi artists started having massive support bases like soccer teams.
Sithole had previously tried to intervene in the maskandi feuds and implored the artists to return to the roots of the genre.
TikTok was awash with maskandi followers who are enmeshed in aggressive fandom where expletives, insults and misogyny were the order of the day.
The toxic maskandi rivalry has claimed more than 10 lives. The feuds of maskandi fans started to get deadly during the heydays of two maskandi superstars and rivals, Mgqumeni and Mtshengiseni Gcwensa, whose rivalry claimed more than six lives.
Their feud got so intense that Bhodloza Nzimande, the head of Ukhozi FM at the time was forced to ban their music on air, until they smoked the piece pipe.
Mtshengiseni and Mgqumeni were also barred by Dumisani Goba, the founder of the South African Traditional Music Awards (Satma), from contesting in the awards, on condition of reconciling.
They eventually reconciled in 2009, the same year that Mgqumeni died of natural causes, Mtshengiseni died in 2015.
With the emergence of new maskandi superstars, Khuzani and Mthandeni, rose from its temporary slumber. In 2017, two maskandi fans were shot dead at Durban's Curries Fountain Stadium during the Nqoboka Maskandi Festival.
The previous year, Lebohang Dlamini, Mxolisi Hlabeni and Lehlohonolo Mofokeng, who were members of the maskandi group Abafana BakaMolo Bangempela were shot dead.
In this incident, speculation pointed to the rivalry between Xolani Mkhize and the leader of the splinter group Abafana BakaMolo, who were led by Gearbox Mtshali.
"Even in reggae, when Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Barney Wailer and others were still alive, there were no fans who said they like this artist and not this one, to a point where blood is spilled.
"This shows that they now join the industry for fame, and not music. Where have you heard that Orlando Pirates, Chiefs of AmaZulu supporters have killed each other?" asked Dr Sithole.
"You'd never see Snoop Dogg, Celine Dion or Chaka Khan writing on social media 'do you see how much people love me?' They (maskandi artists) even boast to artists who would play after them on stage. It's childish and ignorant. Another murder, and not for the first time," said Dr Sithole