The sleeping lion needed protection' - Lessons from the mbube (lion king) debacle

• Author: Matome Melford Ratiba
• Position: Senior Lecturer, College of Law, University of South Africa (UNISA)
• Pages: 1-10

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“The sleeping lion needed protection” – lessons from the Mbube

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∗∗

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(Lion King) debacle

Matome Melford Ratiba

Senior Lecturer, College of Law

University of South Africa (UNISA)

Ratibmm@unisa.ac.za

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Abstract: In 1939 a young musician from the Zulu cultural group in South Africa, penned

down what came to be the most po pular albeit controversial and internationally acclaimed song of

the times. Pop ular because the song somehow found its way into international households via the

renowned Disney‘s Lion King. Controve rsial because the popularity passage of the song was

tainted with illicit and grossly unfair dealings tan tamount to theft and dishonest misappropriation

of traditional intellectual property, giving rise to a lawsuit that ultimately culminated in the out of

court settlement of the case. The lessons to be gained by the world and ema nating from this

dramatics, all pointed out to the dire need for a reconsideration of measures to be urgently put in

place for the safeguarding of cultural intellectual relic such as music a nd dance.

∗

Zulu word for lion.

1. Introduction

Music has been and, and continues to be, important to all people around the world. Music is part of a group's

cultural identity; it reflects their past and separates them from surrounding people. Music is rooted in the culture

of a society in the same ways that food, dress and language are”. Looked at from this perspective, music

therefore constitute an integral part of cultural property that inarguably requires concerted and decisive efforts

towards preservation and protection of same from unjust explo itation and prevalent illicit transfer of same. The

duty to do so becomes even more necessary and critical in countries such as South Africa and a majority of other

first and third world countries sharing the common characteristic of be ing multi-cultured.

In 1939 a young musician from the Zulu cultural group in South Africa, penned down what came to be the

most popular albeit controversial and internationally acclai med song of the times. P opular because the song

somehow found its way i nto international households via the renowned Disney‘s Lion King. Controversial

because the popularity passage of the song was tainted with illicit and grossly unfair dealings ta ntamount to theft

and dishonest misappropriation of traditional intellectual property, giving rise to a lawsuit that ultimately

culminated in the o ut of court settlement of the case. The lessons to be gained by the world and emanating from

this dramatics, all pointed out to the dire need for a reconsideration of meas ures to be urgently put in place for

the safeguarding of cultural intellectual relic such as music and dance.

In this exposition various ways o f protecting cultural music and/or dance within the broad category of

folklore, as well as ways of preventing the illicit dealing thereof are investigated. This is done by firstly

presenting a brief outline of the Solomon Linda story accompanied by the shortcomings and/or dramatics

relating thereto. This is followed secondly by a discussion of various initiatives, (be they suggested, pro posed or

otherwise) taken both territorially and in the international arena, and also geared towards preserving and

protecting cultural pr operty. In this feat, the paper will touch on and address where possible, both the following

aspects, which are :(a) Intangible c ultural expression (music) in the context of intellectual property and

copyright regimes; (b) Intangible cultural expression (music) in the context of indi genous traditional kno wledge

systems. Lastly a review of the progress regarding endeavours (if an y) made by South Africa and pertaining to