ARTISTS Eugene Mthethwa and Mzwakhe Mbuli are having a sit-in at the SABC in Auckland Park, Joburg.
Among their grievances is the issue of the alleged payola and lack of airplay by the public broadcaster.
They are also demanding answers to the memorandum presented during a protest on 12 March, as well as an urgent meeting with group CEO Madoda Mxakwe.
Their sit-in started on Sunday, 31 October.
In their email to SABC management, they said they were prepared to sleep at the premises or even go to prison if their demands weren’t met.
Mzwakhe complained the broadcaster failed to fulfil its promises after apparently promising to support his Vuka Darkie album launch.
But during the preparation stages, there were alleged contradictions and a lot of miscommunication which led to the failure of the launch.
“The team was introduced to me through a Ms Gugu in a 10-minute telephonic conversation around 8pm, which could not allow us to then have a clear briefing from each side as to how we are going to work together in terms of each party’s role. All she stated was SABC will provide the venue, technical support, coffee and undisclosed complimenting elements for refreshments.”
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According to Mzwakhe, the broadcaster also promised to issue a press release.
“This was on Friday and hoping the press statement would come out on Monday, considering the limited time we had. This did not happen until Wednesday, when I sent a message to notify the group CEO about my frustrations. The press statement was then issued only on Thursday and carefully choosing words not to commit, but SABC posing as a distant relative. This was done on Thursday, when the event was on Friday.”
He said he realised just before doing radio interviews that his music was not playlisted by either Umhlobo Wenene or Lesedi FM.
“The presenters did not even know there was a launch at SABC and they did not even have the music. We had to email them privately, thus my letter of apology on their behalf for having played the music which was not playlisted. This is despite having followed the submission process as early as 1 July.
“It became clear there was an element of sabotage. No coffee or refreshments were provided as per the SABC’s commitment and no apology was offered. Having had an empty launch that put my image to shame, considering my reputation, made me to look like an up-and-coming artist.”
He told Daily Sun: “We are here at SABC and will camping here until our demands are met.”
Spokesperson for SABC, Gugu Ntuli said: “The SABC denies the allegations made against it by Mr. Mbuli and Mr. Mthethwa. Both artists have received support from the SABC in recent times and therefore their allegations are quite surprising. It should further be noted that music must be submitted through the right channels as all SABC radio stations have music committees that select music in line with the music policy. The SABC would like to appeal to the artists concerned to use the right channels to address any issues."
