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Retselisitsoe Khabo

Only a few parents encourage their children to pursue a career in the entertainment industry in Lesotho, but Lerotholi Phatela persevered amid being chastised to follow the traditional career choices.

Speaking to KDNews, Lerotholi Phatela famously known by revelers as El Patel said like any other businesses the entertainment industry has been affected by this COVID-19 pandemic very dreadfully.

Phatela, a resident DJ at Mxxl Radio, said most DJs or entertainers’ only means of income is to go out and perform in the very overfilled places that COVID-19 regulations have prohibited.

He added this COVID-19 pandemic has affected them very badly because they now struggle to have the performances so that they can put bread on the table and nobody seems to care while other businesses were assisted and given a certain time to operate.

Phatela was born and raised in the remote district of Qacha’s Nek where he started out as a rapper a long time ago but later on, developed an interest in House music, and developed his skill as a DJ from 2017.

He said he is now working on a couple of productions with numerous artists, that include established hip-hop artistes like L-tore and many others.

He is now a residential local hip-hop DJ at Mxxl radio and he is part of the Lesotho television in house lockdown party.

He has been booked a couple of times on the platform that is ongoing at Sky Alpha Radio.

Phatela further said even though the pandemic has affected them very badly it also helped them realize the need to unite and form associations.

He said such associations will help in times when they need their voice to be heard as they can easily speak in unity under an association.

He called onto DJs across the country that they need to be registered because this will help in getting some bigger shows and it will also help in cases where they need to hand over their pleas or petitions to authorities.

He said they have since had some meetings as the DJs in Maseru to discuss their shared struggles encountered during this COVID-19 lockdown and how to overcome them.