Just days after South African singer Tyla released the dates for her upcoming world tour, Nigeria has been removed from the list of destinations.
On Monday, the Grammy winner announced details of her globetrotting appearances coming on the heels of the release of her second album A*POP.
Her official website initially named 34 cities, including Lagos, Johannesburg and Cape Town, where she would be performing, but by Friday, an updated list was published without the Nigerian city.
No reason has been given for the change but it’s not unconnected to the attacks on Nigerian migrants in South Africa. There have been growing calls in Nigeria for the 24-year-old to cancel her concert in the country over the recent wave of anti-migrant sentiment in South Africa.
Relations between Nigeria and South Africa have soured over allegations that Nigerians have been the target of xenophobic violence.
Nigeria, along with other African countries, has accused South Africa of not doing enough to deal with attacks on foreign nationals.
There have also been a series of protests with people calling for all undocumented migrants to leave South Africa. Tens of thousands of foreigners have left the country, including Nigerians, many of whom boarded specially chartered repatriation flights.
While there have been diplomatic efforts to calm tensions, most recently with a meeting between their foreign affairs officials in Abuja, the issue has spread beyond politics.
On Wednesday, an online petition titled “Ban Tyla from entering Nigeria until xenophobic attacks stop in South Africa” was launched in Nigeria and it has already attracted thousands of signatures.
On Tyla’s social media pages, where the initial tour dates still appear, Nigerians cautioned her against performing in the country as they criticised her for failing to speak out against the protests in South Africa.
Tyla has so far not responded to a BBC request for comment.
Tyla is not the only South African artist facing a backlash for their seeming silence on the anti-migrant protests.
Comedian Trevor Noah also came under fire following an advert he fronted for the Tourism Business Council of South Africa.
The promotional clip, shared across the council’s various social media accounts, generated many comments criticising the former Daily Show host for promoting South Africa but failing to call out xenophobic attitudes.
Users even went as far as to add context under the video saying South Africa was “a xenophobic country [that] doesn’t allow visiting migrants”.
The backlash has extended beyond criticism; some South African artists have reportedly lost out on performances across the continent.
South Africa’s Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said in June that a local artist had told her that “all her gigs were cancelled”. The minister did not name the artist.
So the [South Africa] brand does get affected,” she said at the time.
The South African government has also pushed back on the growing wave of criticism.
It says that it does deal with anyone who takes the law into their own hands, pointing out that more than 900 people were arrested after recent protests, but that it has a right to control migration into the country.
