THE South African Amapiano Awards have broken their silence a week after they cancelled their awards ceremony mere hours before they started.
The event was meant to take place on Tuesday, 12 December, at The Galleria in Sandton, north of Jozi.
On the day, they sent out private statements to some of the people invited to the event, alerting them about the cancellation of the awards ceremony.
However, they hadn’t said anything to the public or responded to the questions sent by Daily Sun since Tuesday.
The awards were set to be hosted by Bontle Modiselle.
On Monday, 18 December, they released a statement apologising for the cancellation.
“A message to our community members, artists, nominees and supporters of the South African Amapiano Awards and the amapiano genre at large across the whole world."
“We would like to extend our sincere apologies for the unexpected cancellation of the Second Annual South African Amapiano Awards,” the statement read.
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They also promised that the awards would take place in 2024.
“Looking ahead, we are enthusiastic about returning in 2024 with a grand celebration. Together, let us forge a path that continues to elevate amapiano to new heights,” the statement said.
On the day of the event, sources told Daily Sun that they hadn’t paid for the venue.
“The amapiano awards and the venue had an agreement about the event taking place there. However, after a lot of back and forth, The Galleria decided to drop them because they didn’t receive any payment,” the source said.
Another source said the organisers didn’t bother to alert their partners and sponsors.
“The teams that needed to help with the planning got to the venue and there was nothing happening. The venue was empty. They tried calling the organisers of the amapiano awards, but none of them were answering their phones. They just heard through the grapevine that the awards have been cancelled,” they said.
