Diamond's banned 'Mtasubiri' video was blasphemous, authorities say

Tanzanian government has responded to Diamond Platnumz and rumored girlfriend Zuchu’s allegations against it that its discriminating Wasafi artistes.

The duo claim the government is set to frustrate and undermine Wasafi success following the decision to ban their hit collaboration Mtasubiri last week.

Acting on recommendation by Tanzania arts council BASATA, Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) banned the song released a month ago from receiving any kind of airplay on all Tanzanian mainstream media and other social outlets.

Issuing the directive, TCRA stated that the ban was necessitated by a section of the public, which felt a certain scene of the song appeared blasphemous and disrespectful to the church.

The scene in question is the cast of Zuchu singing in a church choir before a phone call from Diamond prompts her to leave in a hurry.

Following the ban, Zuchu condemned TCRA and BASATA for always discriminating artistes signed under Wasafi Label, an entity owned by Diamond.

“BASATA has been discriminating instead of supporting us. They have been at the forefront undermining our efforts without taking into consideration our emotions, time and resources we invest into projects. Not long ago they paid royalties but none of us WCB artists featured on the top list even though data  clearly show we topping on all charts. What wrongs have we done that they have to keep on fighting WCB,” Zuchu lamented in a long post.

On banning of Mtasubiri, Zuchu noted they were not given a chance to explain themselves.

“I have shared several videos and movies before with you for review and there has never been an issue raised. Who are the people who were so offended to an extent that you were prompted to ban a song that we spent four days shooting and cost lots of money, even without hearing us out,” she added.

Diamond backed Zuchu’s lengthy post insisting there is far much worse content including movies blaspheming the church but have never been banned.

“With all these happening only to us then you question why I refused to take part in Awards organized by

In a rejoinder, BASATA insists neither it nor TCRA or any other state agency is discriminating Wasafi artistes, maintaining the bodies are just executing their mandates.

“Why is that whenever BASATA bans a song we are perceived to being discriminatory? Is that all we do? We promote concerts, events, offer training and many other initiatives. Why don’t people talk about all the activities that we do?," Matiko Muniko, BASATA acting secretary general posed.

He added: "I believe these are the opinions of few individuals but a majority see the good work that we do. If you log onto BASATA”s social media platforms, you will get to see so many activities that we are involved in. Our day-to-day job is not banning songs. These are rare occurrences that you get to hear of probably once in six months or a year. Someone well informed on what we do, will never reason like that.”

Mr Muniko also dismissed Zuchu’s claims that they were not given a write of reply prior to banning Mtasubiri.

“They were issued with a memo over a month ago before the ban was implemented, to show cause why, but to date we are yet to receive any official communication from them,” Muniko stated.

This new twist comes three months ago after Diamond revealed that he is barred from leaving Tanzania without a special permit from BASATA that always sees him part with Sh2, 400 whenever he wants to fly out.

Diamond claimed that only Wasafi artistes are barred from leaving the country without the said permit.