Ithaca Blog

Friday, October 19, 2007

Lucky Dube Killed by Gunmen in South Africa

Lucky Dube, the reggae musician from South Africa and one of its biggest stars, was shot to death yesterday in a suburb of Johannesburg in an attempted carjacking.

Dube's shooting occurred in front of two of his children. He is survived by his wife and seven children.

Dube appeared locally at the GrassRoots Festival a decade ago. Many of his songs have themes of social justice.

In the 1980's, his music was banned by South Africa's apartheid regime.

South Africa's crime rate is among the highest in the world. United Nations statistics say that one in three Johannesburg residents has been robbed.

President Thabo Mbeki called upon the nation to "act together as a people to confront this terrible scourge of crime."

A spokesperson for the opposition Democratic Alliance party said, "the government's remedies to address this scourge have failed."

Stephen Burke
Ithaca Blog

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