This White South African DJ Says She’s a Black Woman Trapped In a White Body

White South African DJ Says She’s Black

I’m still trying to wrap my head around this, so bear with me, folks. According to Times Live, the DJ’s real name is Anita Ronge, but she calls herself Kasi Mlungu. A name she says she was given. Her stage name is The DuchAz. She was raised in predominately black townships of South Africa. 
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I get rejected for not being black enough and being too black to be white. I’m #KasiMlungu & I’m proud

A writer at Madame Noire dubbed her the “South African Rachel Donzel,” and at first, I wasn’t so convinced. After all, Ronge isn’t running around in black face, and portraying herself as an actual black woman with black DNA. This is not to say her proclamation of “blackness,” isn’t bizarre, because it is, I just wasn’t so sure it was anything more than bizarre.

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For instance, on one of her Instagram photos, she writes the following caption:

I don’t understand why mlungus are so uncomfortable with my presence/fashion/language… so what I’m afrikaans but prefer to eat kotas in kasi with majita… I can just laugh at ya’ll and Ngizozi munyela iICE yam.

I’m not South African, so of course I don’t quite understand the cultural references in her caption, but she acknowledges thats she is a white South African, aka Afrikaans, but prefers to embrace the local culture.

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Things go from bizarre to problematic, however, when denies that she has white privilege. In an interview with 702  radio she said,

I just see people as people….I have suffered the backlash from white people because of the life I have chosen to live. I don’t feel like I’m getting the privilege for being any skin colour. I have worked myself to death to get to the point where I am in my DJ career. It’s not because of anything but hard work. Everyone in the entertainment industry knows that. You need to put in the work for you to get the result.

 — Anita Ronge, South African house music DJ

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Black South African Journalist, Gaopalelwe Phalaetsile, isn’t here for any of Ronge’s shenanigans. Phalaetsile points out that Ronge is making a name for herself and a profit, by “putting on” black culture. In an article for Daily Vox, she writes:

Ronge’s expression of her love for African culture and how she has embraced township culture and feels accepted by Africans is not the issue. The issue is the fact that she uses it to further her career in black spaces and justifies doing so.

Images of Ronge draped in African regalia are also problematic because they are used to give more flavour to her “Kasi Mlungu” persona, which results into a blackface scenario. She also does not learn their real use and incorrectly places garments together. African cultural attires are not fused into one simple attire that can just be paraded. They have deeper meanings to them and are used for different cultural practices and ceremonies.

For more follow Kasi Mlungu on Instagram HERE.

What do you think? Sound off below!

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7 Comments

  1. Xolani Majola says:

    I think that this chick is way over her head trying to capitalise & make a name for herself in the expense of African traditions & dignity. She needs to stop all this kasi mlungu bullshit of her& just accept that she is a Boer once & for all.If not she might not live long enough to have kasi babies nxxx, naw’unonkiloy’us’hlolela go.

    1. Xolani this girl is killing nobody, burying nobody let het be!!!! Lots of black people are walking around pretending to be white and no-one is saying they are crazy and ought to be killed. They exploit their ability to soak English with polished accent all the time to further their careers and agendas and it works and not a single person is talking about that! If I was the one wearing that traditional attire incorrectly no-one would utter a word. It would probably go unnoticed because I’m a black DJ. Black South Africans are killing other black Africans just because they are black and live in South Africa everyday and every so brutally……

      https://youtu.be/yCQaHzUPaAI

      …..(this just in Pretoria yesterday) and yippy wanna chastise some white chick for wearing traditional attire, entertaining y’all and getting paid for it. Take several seats! Fix THAT shut first!

  2. The fact there is an article about her signals white privilege. This is where we go wrong. THIS is NOT a story of someone who embraces our culture. This is someone who is using it to gain publicity. If she REALLY embraced our culture, she would be a regular ass person going to work with no fanfare dealing with opressive racist systems from a political and economic standpoint. What does she do to help her community besides take pictures and play music? Probably NOTHING. Miss me with this bullshit. At least Rachel Dozel was ABOUT the fight.

  3. Rachel Dolezal 2: Electric Boogaloo.

  4. I agree with Buhle!! We are all Africans some are European Africans, some Asian Africans, some Northern Africans. Africa is about your soul and the beat within.

  5. Does she even know or understand true African identity i s still being recovered and she doesn’t even have a portion of African inheritance she’s arrogant and unaware.

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