Petition calls on Disney to drop 'Hakuna Matata' trademark
The petition urges company to drop trademark on Swahili phrase before next year's release of Lion King remake. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
An online petition calling on Walt Disney to relinquish its trademark of the Swahili phrase 'Hakuna Matata' has attracted over 50,000 signatures
Zimbabwean-Canadian activist Shelton Mpala, who created the petition, has likened the move by the US film company to trademark the phrase to cultural appropriation and colonialism.
"Hakuna Matata has been used by most Kiswahili-speaking countries such as Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Disney can't be allowed to trademark something that it didn't invent,” the petition reads.
The phrase was popularised in 1982 by the Kenyan band Them Mushrooms, song Jambo Bwana featured the phrase “hakuna matata”. It was later featured in the 1994 version of the Lion King film.
People from various places in and out of Africa have expressed displeasure with the company’s move over the past few days, others are terming it a way of ‘neo-colonialism’ and calling on the company to drop it.
“This is wrong on so many levels. People across the Swahili coast of East Africa have been saying "hakuna matata" for years before Lion King came along. Shelton Mpala is right - it is colonialism and robbery. It's also embarrassing. Seriously Disney? This is 2018,” said Elizabeth Bananuka on twitter.
