Yesterday, the Global Citizen Festival held at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. It featured a ton of African and global superstars including Beyonce and her husband, Jay Z. Hosted by Bonang Matheba, and well attended by celebrities across the world, it was a great event.
Check out Beyonce for the Global Citizen Festival Nelson Mandela's 100thhttps://t.co/79INCp0M32
— ☆💜TiSh💜☆💜Map of the Soul*Persona💜 (@autumspice) December 2, 2018
Global Citizen is a movement of engaged citizens who are using their collective voice to end extreme poverty by 2030. A concert is held annually to push the mission and raise funds. This festival in South Africa aptly named #Mandela100 was an iconic one, with billions of dollars being raised at the event.
#GlobalCitizenFestivalSA — this is the impact of the movement you embraced with open arms and made your own to honor the legacy of Nelson Mandela. pic.twitter.com/l6OOwueTPc
— Global Citizen Africa (@GlblCtznAfrica) December 2, 2018
@GlblCtzn I know that change doesn't come over night. But Honestly I pray that with all the millions and billions being pledged today, We see real effective change in African Countries. This movement is truly bigger than us. The future seems lit🔥#next5yearsareours @GCMandela100
— Paballo Mekhoe (@Paballo_Mekhoe) December 2, 2018
It is disheartening to note that after such an amazing event, disaster struck. According to reports, the South African police were busy safeguarding the bigwigs and exposed thousands of attendees to mayhem. Due to a large number of requests, Uber was of little help, and tons of people were stuck.
After the concert, a LOT of people needed to Ubers to get home. There were too many people and too little Ubers so whenever you called one, it kept indicating that all services were unavailable. Instead of waiting for an Uber, my friend’s brother said he’d —
— إِيمَان (@imaan_moosa) December 3, 2018
We walked a little further down to get a signal, still in the garage but where the picnic benches were. A man ran up to my friend and stole her phone. It happened within a second. We hurried back to where the crowd was. 2 minutes later, a girl screamed —
— إِيمَان (@imaan_moosa) December 3, 2018
We couldn’t go anywhere because men were stealing and harassing people all around us. We were corralled in. We decided to stay amongst the obviously scared and startled crowd. Strength in numbers. Then a gun shot went off and people started running.
— إِيمَان (@imaan_moosa) December 3, 2018
They let us stand with them and made a circle around us so that we’d be safe. More gunshots went off. Someone started tasering people. The police did NOTHING. No one could leave because the cars were backlogged and Ubers were unavailable.
— إِيمَان (@imaan_moosa) December 3, 2018
The police officer refused and locked the doors. They’d already passed the Sasol garage. She said she needed to throw up but he told her to throw up in the car and didn’t open the door. She pleaded with him that she was sick. He opened the doors. They escaped
— إِيمَان (@imaan_moosa) December 3, 2018
Many people are recounting the horrid experience they had at Sasol Garage. These stories might make you sick, and it has contributed to Sasol being a trending topic on Twitter.
It was the first time in my life I see so much crime happening in 1 day. We couldn’t request UBER because if they see u holding a phone they will come straight after you. What I saw while walking from Stadium to #Sasol erased all the good memories I had from #GlobaCitizenFestival
— Mosimana Wa Molobedu (@TebogoRamaselel) December 3, 2018
Sasol garage was an extreme sport guys worse than JHB CBD a whole entire move 😭
— Sign a non-disclosure📝 (@LawryKamzila) December 3, 2018
lmaoooooo not to be dramatic but I really saw myself dying at Sasol.
— sim (@sxmphxwerm) December 3, 2018
Wow @AsktheChiefJMPD @SAPoliceService you guys have left so many of us traumatized after what was happening at the Sasol garage in Nasrec last night. Criminals can't terrorise us so easily and in massive groups. Guns and knives being pulled on us so casually.
— Zweli Mbhele 🇿🇦 (@TheZweli) December 3, 2018
Young people, particularly women were placed in positions where they were exposed to violent thugs and men who were sexually harassing them.
The SASOL garage area was a complete horror movie.
It was a tale of two nights. On the one hand Beyonce. On the other mayhem.
— King of Leon. (@MightiJamie) December 3, 2018
I’m actually still speechless about last night at that Sasol garage…not a single cop in site
— karabo maloka (@karabokaos) December 3, 2018
Post #GlobalCitizenFestivalSA was really hectic. We didn't even stay for 5 minutes at Sasol and we were already running. Possessions were stolen. People were stabbed. I think I saw them try to hijack a motorcycle too💀. I've never held my little sister that tight.
— Mwelakhe Zbedu (@Zweli_Mbedu) December 3, 2018
I legit saw thugs trying to rape a young lady at the Sasol. The screams were harrowing, her boyfriend tried to fight the guys off, luckily a crowd of men were able to help them quickly enough.
Sorry in going on about this but wow I can't believe what was happening. Shaking.
— Zweli Mbhele 🇿🇦 (@TheZweli) December 3, 2018
You get free tickets and you lose R10k worth of accessories because of poor organization of the after show logistics mind you billions were pledge during the show but they couldn’t take 1 million for safety& security to prevent things like mugging at Sasol #GlobaCitizenFestival
— Dude-Master (@simon_pela) December 3, 2018
Was harrowing to say the least. It was a nightmare of the biggest proportion. And we were utterly helpless, the horror of it will have destroyed people's lives forever.#GlobalCitizenFestivalSA #GlobalCitizen #Sasol
A stalk & deeply painful reminder of the crime & lawlessness
— CATHERINE Constantinides (@ChangeAgentSA) December 3, 2018
Guys We almost died after #GlobaCitizenFestivalSA (At Sasol Garage) – it was a mess, people were getting robbed, they were stampedes and apparent guns.
— Lasizwe (@lasizwe) December 2, 2018
Leanne, it was traumatic. The thugs were calling us “Orders”. If they wanted to prey on a person, they would say to each other “we have another order” and start aligning their approach 😥 #sasol #globalcitizensfestival @JoburgMPD https://t.co/pxfjXL3AoK
— Afrikan Child (@MoPhyl) December 3, 2018
Wow.. I counted 17 muggings as we waited for the Uber driver. SA 🇿🇦 is fucked up 😭😭😭😭… We were pushed and threatened like nothing infront of @MetroCops and @SAPS and all they were concerned about is @Gautrain buses moving smoothly #Sasol
— ArtSlave (@tebogogxubane) December 3, 2018
Mhmm, my people got mugged one by one at Sasol yesterday. While police were making sure Beyoncé and Jay-Z don’t get harassed for selfies. It’s tough in SA.
— #uTatakho (@ItsYangaChief) December 3, 2018
Everyone who waited for an Uber at sasol garage after #GlobalCitizen and survived is a literal war veteran
— Denzel 🌙🌹 (@ungoverened) December 3, 2018
Beyonce is all forgotten shem. All I'll remember is the trauma from Sasol garage #GlobalCitizenFestivalSA
— MaNyambose 💥 (@KhazzKhazz) December 3, 2018
The event organizers have addressed this issue with an apology delivered on Twitter.
After such an inspiring evening, we are saddened to hear the challenges people had while leaving the venue. We have been working to support people getting home safely.
— Global Citizen Africa (@GlblCtznAfrica) December 3, 2018
This issue of poor crowd management across Africa has been raised severally. Last year in Nigeria, many girls were harassed after a concert held by ace rapper, Phyno at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu. It will be helpful if event organizers prepare for these unfortunate occurrences.
What do you think of this? Let us know in the comments.
Ndewoo!