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INSIDE AFRICA
Tribute to Slain African Reggae Star Lucky Dube
Aired October 27, 2007 - 12:30:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FEMI OKE, HOST: Hello, I'm Femi Oke. This is INSIDE AFRICA, your weekly look at life and issues on the continent. It should have been a week of celebrations and national pride in South Africa, where the Springboks rugby team returned home from France with the Rugby World Cup. Instead, it has been a week of anguish for friends, loved ones and fans of Lucky Dube.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILLIE DOMINGO, LUCKY DUBE`S TOUR MANAGER: Immediately, I got calls from Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, all around Africa, saying, man is it true, please tell us no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OKE: The South African reggae superstar was shot to death in an apparent carjacking attempt. "INSIDE AFRICA" viewers sent us e-mail asking us to pay tribute to him. So, Lucky Dube is the focus of this week show.
Dube was killed while dropping of his children at a relative's home in a Johannesburg suburb. His violent death has put the spotlight on South Africa's notorious crime problem. But as Robyn Curnow reports, few are optimistic it will lead to change.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A prayer for strength sung in a Johannesburg jazz club on Wednesday night. Music lovers came to say goodbye to one of their own.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I read in the newspapers Lucky Dube shot dead, I was shocked. I was numb. I was angry.
CURNOW: Lucky Dube was a Rasta. His band played on without him, singing the reggae theme of love and peace, lyrics that contrast violently with the events of last Thursday night, when Dube was shot in his car outside his family home in front of two of his children, an apparent carjacking, say police. All suspects have since been arrested.
IVOR HAABURGER, GALLO MUSIC GROUP: It is a loss felt by millions of people, millions and millions of people around the world. The calls and the e-mails of condolences continue to arrive. May he rest in peace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible) one day. How long shall they kill our prophets? Why (inaudible).
CURNOW: Outside the club, thousands of ordinary South Africans came to remember a music legend. For everyone here, including Shonisani Mugwabana, Dube's murder once again reminded them that they live in one of the most violent societies in the world.
SHONISANI MUGWABANA, FAN: It does make me angry. You know, like every single day, every single day, it's either a elative, a friend, you hear about somebody, you read the paper every day. It's a crime, crime, crime.
CURNOW: The statistics are chilling. From March 2006 to April this year, nearly 20,000 people were murdered here. So on the very same day Lucky Dube's life was taken, on average 50 other South Africans would also have died violently.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we are gathered here for this specific one, because this guy was, you know, he had a profile and a public life. But again, there are so many other people that also met their deaths through guns.
CURNOW: Remembering the murdered has become an all-too common experience in this country. Lucky Dube's death has not sparked a rallying cry against crime or even criticism against the government to do more. Instead, the real tragedy is perhaps that South Africans have become numb to the violence around them. They're becoming used to saying goodbye.
Robyn Curnow, CNN, Johannesburg, South Africa.
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OKE: We'll examine South Africa's struggle with crime in a few minutes. First, a closer look at the man described by many reggae fans as the Bob Marley of Africa. By all appearances, Lucky Dube was a typical Rastafarian. In reality, he was anything but. He rejected drugs, cigarettes and alcohol, and friends say he was just high on life. He was also a devoted family man, and an outspoken critic of apartheid.
Now, I had the chance to interview Lucky Dube back in 2002. Here's a look at that conversation.
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OKE: Lucky Dube is one of the most famous reggae musicians in Africa. He started his career being compared to Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. Today, his music has become the standard others have to measure up to.
Halfway through his latest U.S. tour, en route from his hotel to the next sound check, I managed to clock up a few lucky moments.
LUCKY DUBE, MUSICIAN: For anybody that wants to do reggae, even with record companies, they would say, you sing reggae? The guy says, yeah. They say, can you be better than Lucky Dube?
Because at one time, in South Africa, of course, like say, for instance, when it comes to shows, there was no live show, no festival that was done without Lucky Dube.
Sometimes you become more famous outside of your country than in your own country. You see, I think that's where it is at right now. Like, we're not doing a lot of shows in South Africa anymore, but we do a lot of shows like in the rest of Africa and overseas.
OKE: Dube's latest album is called "Soul Taker." It continues the Dube tradition of offering up a few musical surprises.
DUBE: Like on this one, I brought in Scottish pipes. For the first time I used them, and I've never heard then on a reggae album. The Scottish pipes, we have them on the actual song "Soul Taker."
OKE: I want to go like this, because then everybody in Africa is going to be so jealous. When I was at your concerts, I love your concerts, it's like you're working up a sweat like here, in the Georgia sunshine, and when you shake your locks, you go, wow!
DUBE: The truth is, we enjoy being on stage. You know, it's not like I'm going on stage just because I have to, or what. I also like to be on stage. Sometimes, I want to just go on with the show, and just go on and on and on.
OKE: I talked to Lucky Dube just before his show in Atlanta. That night he started performing at midnight, and finally left the stage at about 7:00 in the morning. As far as the audience were concerned, they'd really struck lucky.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OKE: That is one of my all-time favorite music interviews. We had to sit outside in the hotel, and wait for Lucky to wake up. And then we did the interview in a really unglamorous place, i.e. the car park. But it was so much fun, and that is how I will always remember him on INSIDE AFRICA.
Crime is a daily concern for most South Africans. Still ahead on INSIDE AFRICA, we'll take a closer look at the roots of the problem and what can be done about it.
And later, Lucky Dube's tour manager reflects on life on the road with Lucky.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOMINGO: He was a practical joker. He was brilliant with accents. And he was just an incredible human being, a real human .
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Making business news in Africa this week. The World Bank is reporting some good economic news for Africa. World Bank President Robert Zoellick says economies of 25 African countries grew at an average annual rate of at least 5.5 percent between 1995 and 2005. Zoellick says economic grows depends heavily on good governance and expanding infrastructure.
BHP Billiton has signed an agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo to explore jointly building a $3 billion aluminum smelter. The mining giant says the plant would be powered by a proposed hydroelectric dam on the Congo River and would be the world's most modern aluminum smelter.
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OKE: Hello again. You're watching INSIDE AFRICA.
Lucky Dube's death has focused international attention on South Africa's high rate of violent crime. President Thabo Mbeki acknowledged the problem, as he offered his condolences to Dube's family and friends. He said South Africans must make a commitment that, and I quote, "We shall continue to act together as a people to confront this terrible scourge, the scourge of crime, which has taken the lives of too many of our people and does so every day."
Isha Sesay has more on the government's crime-fighting efforts.
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ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the face of violent crime in South Africa. Thirteen years after the end of apartheid, the country's engulfed in a wave of rapes, murders and armed robberies. The latest crime figures released by the police this summer show the authorities have had limited success in their fight against crime.
CHARLES NQUKUIA, MINISTER OF SAFETY: The report on crime shows that crime levels in South Africa continue to drop. We're deeply concerned, though, that crime continues to be rife and that the crime rate continues to be high.
SESAY: It's true some crimes have decreased, but despite the minister's attempts to focus attention on the progress, the murder rate has actually increased by 2.4 percent, while aggravated robbery is up 4.6 percent.
Neville Huxham believes the situation is out of control.
NEVILLE HUXHAM, VICTIM OF CRIME: You can imagine the terror while .
SESAY (on camera): Yeah, of course.
HUXHAM: . while I'm lying there, my wife is down with these three guys. As they brought my wife back, I heard one of them say to her, (inaudible), and as he was forcing her to the ground, he said to her, "we're going to do bad things to you."
SESAY (voice over): Neville was shot four times while trying to protect his wife in their Johannesburg home. Six months later, they remain traumatized, and the attack has changed their lives completely.
South Africa's minister for safety and security says the government is doing everything it can under the circumstances.
NQUKUIA: The police budget is the biggest of all in terms of government. And in the next three years, that budget is going to be 43 billion rands. When, for instance, I was appointed in 2002, the budget allocation to the department was near 21 billion rands. That indicates to what extent government is committed to the fight against crime.
SESAY: But according to security analyst Johan Burger, socioeconomic problems are fueling the country's crime spree.
JOHAN BURGER, ANALYST, INSTITUTE FOR SECURITY: I think this is the wakeup call for government. This should tell them that they need to look at crime more broadly than they're doing at the moment.
SESAY: South Africa is currently one of the most crime-ridden countries in the world. Judging by the abundance of barbed wire and electric fences that protect many homes, people are living in a state of fear.
While the government has made some progress, the debate here in this country is about the rate of that progress, leading some to ask whether the authorities have what it takes to bring this violent crime wave under control by the time the World Cup arrives in 2010.
Isha Sesay, CNN, Pretoria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OKE: I got some insight on South Africa's crime problem from Vincent Maher. He's a columnist with the "Mail & Guardian" newspaper in South Africa, and he writes a blog called "Media in Transition."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VINCENT MAHER, MAIL & GUARDIAN: The people have to realize that we're still suffering from the legacy of apartheid. There are a huge number of people in this country who have absolutely nothing. And so, in fact, it's not a surprise that the crime rate is so high.
The real question is, how do the processes of economic upliftment affect the crime levels, how much resources -- or how many resources do the police have available to keep the situation under control.
The fact is that the government had a massive task on their hands since 1994, when we became a democratic country, and on the whole they're doing a pretty good job. I think that's what most South Africans feel. It's just an issue of specific areas, like crime and health care, that need special attention.
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OKE: Lucky Dube leaves behind millions of heartbroken fans and a vast catalogue of music. Coming up on INSIDE AFRICA, his tour manager and close friend remembers the artist and the man.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOMINGO: The first thing I'll miss is that telephone call that will go, "Hey, Rasta." We're going to where there is a war, and we're going to play in a concert.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
OKE: Hello again, you're watching INSIDE AFRICA's special tribute to Lucky Dube.
And Lucky leaves behind a catalogue of more than 20 albums recorded over a 25-year span. And as prolific as he was in the studio, he was also known for giving his fans their money's worth with his lengthy and passionate live performances, and outrageous dancing. Here's a closer look at Lucky Dube's musical legacy.
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OKE: Lucky Dube, musical pioneer, political activist, husband and father, now mourned across South Africa and beyond.
LAWRENCE DUBE, KAYA FM: We've lost a brother. We have lost a prophet. We have lost an icon. We have lost somebody who didn't deserve to die like that.
OKE: He was South Africa's greatest reggae artist. His (inaudible) dreadlocks were a trademark, and for many South Africans, music fans and Rastafarians around the world, Lucky Dube's music spoke to millions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is sad moment in my life, and too many people, that they're really inspired and a place in their lives (inaudible).
OKE: Often dubbed the new prophet of reggae, Dube became an outspoken critic of South Africa's apartheid regime during the 1980s. His weapons -- his music and his voice.
LAWRENCE DUBE: He didn't pick up arms and do all those sort of things. He used that talent, you know, to be the voice of the voiceless.
OKE: During a musical career of 25 years, Lucky Dube became an international star, recording 22 albums with lyrics in Zulu, English and Afrikaans. But success did not change him as a man.
LAWRENCE DUBE: Somebody very, very nice and warm, very charming, very humble.
OKE: Now, millions of fans around the world can try to take some comfort from the song of his debut album, "Rastas Never Die."
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OKE: Lucky Dube's friend and long-time Africa tour manager, Billie Domingo, had a front-row seat to the frenzy that often surrounded the reggae superstar. We had a conversation earlier this week, when he described to me the moment he learned that his friend had been killed.
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DOMINGO: I was having dinner in Capetown at a restaurant in Sea Point (ph) when a friend of mine called me and said, knowing that I knew Lucky, did I know that Lucky had been shot? And that was kind of abrupt, because I was just about to start eating. And I - I didn't believe it, and I said, no, I haven't heard anything.
But I immediately called and somebody answered Lucky's telephone, and that freaked me out, because I thought it could have been one of the hijackers. But then I asked him a question that only one of the family or my crew would know, and he answered the correct question. And I then called one of the team, and then -- his team -- and told me he was watching Lucky's body because he was at the scene.
OKE: What's the sense you're getting from people who are mourning him in South Africa?
DOMINGO: Immediately, there was an incredible emotional outburst from the peoples of South Africa, and I think Lucky, sadly, died not knowing how popular he was in South Africa itself.
OKE: Can you give our international audience a sense of what it was like to be at a live Lucky concert?
DOMINGO: We arrived in Uganda, and the pilot says we were coming to land. First, the plane went berserk. Everybody tried to get the autograph. Not South Africans, these were the travelers outside. And then we got to -- we couldn't land, because the runway was closed. People have got onto the runway for his arrival, and we had to go from Kampala to another airport
That was already a sign to me as tour manager that I was in trouble.
We got to it. It was an hour and a half to two hours away. We arrived then. It was a convoy of about 56 cars taking us from this airport to Kampala.
We played to 80,000 people. They used tear gas to dispel the crowds. Lucky stopped the concert, and said "I'm not going to play. If there's any tear gas or any guns, I don't play. I'm not into that."
And then this policemen said, Mr. Manager, come outside, let me show you something. And I walked outside. There must have been about 60,000 to 80,000 people outside the stadium. And then, of course, I had to go and get speakers to put out so everybody could hear.
But his popularity was such that -- we didn't understand it; Lucky and I could never really understand it. It was just phenomenal -- 80,000, 60.000.
We went into a war in Liberia, Monrovia during the war. And the truce was called, and we performed. And the hotel we stayed in, asked (inaudible). I said, well, you can't, because there is no roof, they shuttered it, bombs had gone through or whatever. And we stayed on the third floor.
But we played -- Lucky played in those areas. And he never ever, ever said no.
OKE: After touring with him for so many years, you knew him really well. How would you describe Lucky Dube?
DOMINGO: As a journeyman. As a provider, provider of work to the families (ph), provider to his family, and a provider to Africa with the message. He provided a message of hope through this lyrics.
But a journeyman -- he worked 300 days a year, and when he wasn't on tour, he'd been in his studio, working, working, working. You know, that he never slept at night. He was an insomniac. He used to sit and watch videos and watch television. But he was a practical joker. He was brilliant with accents, and he was just an incredible human being, a real human being.
OKE: Why do you think he was so beloved around the world?
DOMINGO: Because there was no 20 percent. It's like 7:00 a.m. in the morning cannot be 7:00 p.m. Lucky gave a three-hour concert that drove me nuts. It was -- something he wanted me to remember was the length of time from the band spent on stage. It was insane. He would do a three-hour concert of dance and songs. He sang songs we didn't even think he recorded. He was the ultimate, ultimate professional, and I think people appreciated that.
OKE: What will you miss most about Lucky and touring with him?
DOMINGO: The first thing I'll miss is that telephone call that would go, "hey, Rasta. We're going to where there is a war, and we're going to play in a concert we shouldn't be. But what time can you come to Johannesburg to leave?"
He never gave me a chance to say, well, they're shooting people in the DRC. He would tell me in advance we were going to places where Michael Jackson wouldn't play.
He was a friend, and he cared about me and the band very, very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OKE: That was Billie Domingo, Lucky Dube's Africa tour manager. He also said that Lucky Dube's group will continue to tour. So check out the official website for details of their future concerts.
Now, it was a week of tremendous highs and lows in South Africa. Still ahead on the program, the Springboks rugby team provides a point of pride. Stay with us.
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OKE: You're watching INSIDE AFRICA. Welcome back.
In the middle of such a sad week, when Africa mourns the deaths of Lucky Dube, there was also joy in South Africa. Thousands of fans greeted the country's rugby team as it returned home from France with the Rugby World Cup. The Springboks defeated England 15:6 -- ouch! It was close, kind of. And they won the title for the first time since 1995.
Our reporters around the world flooded us with their fan photos. Take a look at this photo. It was snapped at a Johannesburg hotel. And in this shot, also from Jo-burg, it just goes to show that you're never too young to be a rugby fan.
Reynaldo (ph) shares a photo from Beijing, where he and his mother showed off their fan loyalty during an excursion.
And that's it for this week's show. We leave you now with the music of South African superstar Lucky Dube. As Lucky himself once said, "Rastas never die."
Take care.
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