GOSPEL singer Pulane Maphari has been left heartbroken after the South African Music Awards (Samas) took back her award.
The songstress won the Best Contemporary award for her album, Sacrificial Worship (Live), at the event held in Sun City, North West last month, however, they are taking it back.
The Samas released a statement on Tuesday, 13 September, saying she submitted her 2020 album which is against the rules.
“It has come to the attention of the office that Maphari repackaged, renamed and paraded an album she released in 2020 as a new body of work and submitted it for 2021 consideration with the same tracklisting,” read the statement.
They said what Pulane did was a violation of the Samas’ rules and equals an automatic disqualification.
“Under General Rules: Eligibility for Entry clause 5.1 states that an album must contain not less than four (4) tracks of previously unreleased recorded performances (Remixes are excluded). Clause 5.2 says 50% of the album must feature different and previously unreleased sound recordings by the artist or group entered (in other words, no re-released albums or ‘best of’ or ‘greatest hits’ compilations and the like),” they explained.
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The Samas also announced that the project team has been suspended and Pulane is disqualified.
“As a consequence, Nhlanhla Sibisi, RiSA CEO has suspended the SAMA project team and instituted internal disciplinary processes,” they said.
“Furthermore, the artist is disqualified and further investigations are underway to determine whether further action needs to be taken,” they continued.
Speaking about the issue, Nhlanhla Sibisi said: “The integrity of the Samas was of the utmost importance. We take seriously any complaint we receive regarding how the winners are chosen and the conduct of our office and the panel of judges. We are looking at a total overhaul of the Samas structure, systems and processes. The Samas must be artist-driven and focused.”
Pulane told Daily Sun she found out about the matter on social media and she is not happy.
“I found out from social media. I was alerted by someone that there’s a story being run about me and that my Samas was being taken back. After seeing the story, I immediately went to my emails to try and check if I missed an email,” said the singer.
“I realised an email had been sent in the evening last night around 6pm and they were not asking anything. They were just letting me know of the disqualification. Prior to that, nothing was discussed,” she said.
She said she is heartbroken about what happened.
“I felt really gutted and I was confused as well. I didn’t know how we got there. I still don’t know the sequence of events. I’m hoping to get into contact with them and find out what happened,” she said.
Pulane said the album is different from the one she released in 2020.
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“Part of the reasoning on their part is that they said I rebranded and repackaged the album which is not true. The album released in 2020 was an audio called Sacrificial Worship. The one released in 2021 was Sacrificial Worship (Live),” she said.
“These albums are totally different. We added another song onto the new album and bought new things and the arrangements were different as well. This isn’t putting me into good light. They way they are painting it is that I’m the bad person. Like I rebranded to win the Sama and it’s not the case,” she said.
The award has now been given to Kingdmusic who had the second highest scores after Pulane.
Kingdmusic, whose real name is Denga Takalani, said he is over the moon.
“It feels incredible and amazing. It’s just that with what happened, I just feel stripped because we were not given a moment to go up there on stage and celebrate and be recognised. But it feels amazing,” he said.
He also said he found out about his Sama win from social media.
“I only found out last night when a friend of mine sent me a screenshot of the news. I only got communication from them this morning and they said they would communicate when I can fetch the award,” he said.
