YARONA FM VS ROBBIE ROB COURT SHOWDOWN
Station slaps Robin with 5 Million Pula lawsuit
THE sour relationship between Yarona FM and its former morning show host, Robin Chivazve, has hit a new low with the radio station dragging Chivadze to court for defamation.
Details of the P5 million lawsuit are expected to make for an interesting hearing in a Goliath versus David type court battle as Yarona FM sues Chivazve for allegedly insinuating that the station stole the Yarona FM Music Awards (YAMAS) logos from him and spreading a negative perception that YARONA Fm was a thief that had exploited him.
Yarona FM Lawyer, Mpho Makati, has confirmed that the case between the station and their former Feel Good Foundation (FGF) show host is coming to court on February 25th for setting of trial dates.
Chivazve and the station’s relationship soured in 2018 when him and his then co-presenter, Brando Keabilwe, were fired from their prime slot. Keabilwe has since retraced his steps back to the morning show.
Things, however, took an interesting twist in 2019 when Chivazve, through his company, Ventura, attempted to stop the youthful stations’ popular music awards dubbed the Yarona FM Music Awards (YAMAS), alleging the concept was his.
In papers filed before court, Yarona FM is attempting to set the record straight concerning the YAMA concept ownership.
The radio station’s chief witness and Yarona Media Holdings (YMH) shareholder, Dumi Lopang, is expected to tell the court that the YAMAS were his brainchild, birthed in 2005.
Lopang will tell the court that the YAMAS were conceptualised at the backdrop of his relationship with one of the South African awards organisers but only took off years later after a few stumbling blocks.
“The plaintiff (Yarona FM) discussed the model with the 1st defendant (Robin). He proposed to work with the station and a working model was agreed. This idea was discussed at board level and the board was not interested to hire anyone to carry out the show and whom they would pay large sums of money whether the show made money or not. The 1st defendant agreed to work on a profit sharing model and not a guaranteed fee… On the basis of the agreement signed, the first show was held in 2014,” Lopang has deposed in his statement filed in court as he argues that he introduced the idea to Robin and not the other way around.
Another witness for the Station will be Kelly Ramputswa, the 106.6 dials station manager.
She is expected to tell the court that one day when executing her duties, she was notified by the CIPA clerk that the logos for the YAMAS, which is an acronym for their awards show, had already been registered.
Ramputswa will also tell the court how the relationship between the station and Robin deteriorated over the years especially where the awards are concerned.
Ramputswa will argue that at some point Robin organised another show, which was a direct competition of the awards show, attracting the same crowd.
“The defendants have published a post which attracted comments that state clearly that the plaintiff (Yarona FM) stole logos from the defendant… the perception is that we are thieves and they have exploited the defendants,” Ramputswa is expected to tell the court.
Chivazve refused to comment on the matter that is still before the court.