HOUSE music vocalist and producer, Zakes Bantwini, has expressed his concern about celebrities who downplay the importance of education. In a recent interview on Cliff Central, hosted by Gareth Cliff, Zakes slammed celebrities who are not setting a good example to the youth by not encouraging them to go to school.
BEING AN EDUCATED ARTIST
Zakes told listeners about the importance of education, especially for artists. “I’ve been in this industry for a very long time and it’s not because I’m smart or because I am very talented, but it’s because I went to school. I tell people that school helps you to think differently,” said Zakes during the show. He says in South Africa, we have a tendency of seeing education as a privilege, which is wrong. ”We should not take education as a privilege, it is in fact a constitutional right to get educated. It is not only important to do so, it is also necessary for our well-being. Some celebrities are not able to encourage the youth to be educated,” says Zakes.
CHALLENGING UNEDUCATED ARTISTS
Zakes says that he does not mean any disrespect to any celebrity or anybody out there who has succeeded without being educated, but says people must not glorify celebrities who downplay the importance of education. “Everytime I go to music workshops where people talk to artists, I feel like they are lying. Telling people that they don’t need school is a lie. Maybe you don’t need school but don’t tell other artists that they also don’t need school because you are robbing them of their careers,” he says. Zakes advises artists to be careful because some celebrities have got their own reasons for not going to school. “I will not condemn celebrities who downplay education but I do not agree with them,” says the star. Zakes studied music at Natal Technikon, which is now called Durban University of Technology, but did not complete his studies because he was injured during a shooting incident when he was supposed to write his exams. But he did not give up on his dream, as he completed his degree in jazz and popular music in 2012 at the University of KwaZuluNatal. In 2013, he completed a degree in social entrepreneurship at the University of Pretoria. Zakes is married to actress Nandi Mngoma and they have a child together.
