- Company says they are owed traveling expenses
- “We were humiliated by promoter”
- “I also want my P45 000 back”- Maun Easter promoter
GOSEGO MOTSUMI
South African company, Leciatainment Camp, says it is taking legal action against Maun Easter Bash promoter, Tiroyabotlhe Kabaitse, to recover expenses and money owed to them when they travelled to his gig in Maun during the Easter holidays.
According to a statement by Tebogo Manganye, Director of Leciatainment Camp, on 31st March, Fifi Cooper, Trademark and McKenzie were scheduled to perform at the Maun Easter Bash slated for the Horse Trail Farm and a full payment was due to them on arrival.
“The event was already advertised on Yarona FM and Batswana were expecting us. Our local manager in Botswana Gilbert ‘PP’ Seagile then confirmed to us that the event would be confirmed as he was awaiting confirmation payment from the event organizer. On the day of event PP stated that Kabaitse had confirmed by sending us travelling expenses to get to Maun and payment would be done on our arrival,” Manganye said.
After driving for over 10 hours to Maun from Gaborone, Manganye said they found no event at the venue save for sound people who were setting the stage around 22:30 hours, security guards and around ten people inside the venue. When they tried to find the whereabouts of the promoter, Maganyane says they were told he had fled the scene and could not be reached on his mobile phone. The accommodation allegedly booked for artists was also unavailable. To that end, the company says it had to ‘hustle’ and incurred costs.
“We are really disappointed by the promoter’s conduct and have given PP a go ahead to take legal action to ensure we recover all our expenses and money owed to us by his event as well as humiliation that our artists had to go through,” he said, criticizing ‘chancers of promoters’ who are interested in hosting South African artists without a budget.
When reached for comment the promoter related his side of the story. He said he was charged P50 000 for all three artists to perform at the Maun Easter Bash and encountered delays as he was expecting funds from somewhere. However, he managed to pay the management 50% deposit as required and awaited their arrival. “I kept calling and asking how far they were from arriving and I was assured that everything was fine except when I was told they had a flat tyre but everything will be sorted. It was around 2am when I got worried because revelers were now complaining and wanted refunds. At around 03:03am my phone went off still no sight of the artists and people were leaving,” he said.
The promoter of Maun Easter Bash, Kebaitse, said the South African entourage probably arrived around 0400am when he had cancelled accommodation bookings at Maun Lodge out of frustration of their late arrival. “I later learnt that they delayed because they stopped along the way to perform in a club at Letlhakane. I have lost over P45 000 due to this mess. They can go ahead with the lawsuit, I have a record of all our conversations and also want all my money back,” he pointed out.