Comedian and media personality Coconut Kelz has sparked conversation over her eNCA appearance, where she aired her views on some of the country’s most pressing matters.
Comedian, writer and media personality Lesego Tlhabi’s eNCA appearance last week has divided the country in into two: those who understand that it’s satire, and those who are still grappling with the concept. Tlhabi, who is also a YouTuber, created a character named Coconut Kelz, through which she shares her sentiments on the state of the nation.
Listening to Coconut Kelz, one almost instantly picks up that the comedian created the character to highlight the way in which ‘better blacks’ view the country. ‘Better blacks’ refers to the rich, black people who are often out of touch with how those who aren’t as fortunate as them live.
In the clip that has since gone viral, Coconut Kelz can be seen having a conversation with eNCA anchor Jane Dutton. One of the statements Kelz makes is that corruption is a black thing, and that white people can’t be corrupt.
“There are no white perpetrators. We call it accounting irregularities and that’s what white people do. Corruption is still a black thing … It’s the word corruption, it comes from the Greek word eruptos, which means black, and it just only goes for black people.”
The one statement that sent social media users on a witch-hunt to find Kelz and bring her to book was when Dutton asked her about how load shedding affects her, and she said it didn’t, because her dad has a helicopter.
“So, all of the DA members live on this grid line, so we never get shed … All the caucasians are on that line, it’s called the life of caucus … We don’t live in the townships, we don’t need to have load shedding, it’s not a suburban thing,”
“I don’t work normal hours. Well, I don’t work at all actually, I’m studying acting so I don’t really need to drive during peak hour traffic, and also my dad has a helicopter so sometimes I just fly to school. Sometimes my teachers fly to me because I don’t like to be in Fees Must Fall [because] that thing is still happening … I think fees must rise so that there’s [less] people at school,” she said.
Throughout the skit, Jane Dutton kept a very straight face, which might have contributed to the manner in which South Africans received the interview clip. Tlhadi’s Coconut Kelz is a regular feature on 702 and the comedian has gained much traction for her humorous commentary on some of the country’s social issues.
Abenathi Gqomo
a.gqomo@politicalanalysis.co.za
