Cassper in pay scandal
Samro wants Mzansi’s most sought-after rapper’s record label liquidated for continued non-payment
The South African Music Rights Organisation (Samro) has applied for an order to liquidate award-winning rap superstar Cassper Nyovest’s record label Family Tree.
This comes after the Nyuku hitmaker failed to pay them nearly half a million rand in royalties for his show Fill Up the Dome with Cassper Nyovest because he doesn’t have nyuku anymore.
Samro, which collects royalties on behalf of South African musicians, filed the court papers in the Joburg High Court last week. It has given the artist, who often boasts about the millions of rands that he amassed through gigs and royalties, 14 days to file opposing affidavits if he plans to oppose the liquidation of his label.
The organisation’s decision to apply for an order to liquidate Mzansi’s most sought-after hip-hop proponent comes after it obtained judgment against the wizard dancer at the Randburg magistrate’s court in an attempt to force him to pay. It has also applied for another judgment and the verdict is pending.
In the papers seen by Sunday World, Samro general manager for legal service Chola Makgamathe said in her founding affidavit that the organisation had signed an agreement with Cassper Nyovest’s company in October 2015 to license the performance of the Dome concert known as Fill Up the Dome with Cassper Nyovest.
She said the muso’s company was supposed to have paid Samro a total of R467 400, R342 000 and R125 400, which was 2% of the concert’s gross revenue of admission plus value-added tax.
She explained that despite repeated appeals for him to pay, Cassper Nyovest, who was hit with R3.6-million tax bill by the SA Revenue Service (SARS) last year, refused to do so.
Makgamathe further said Samro has already obtained judgment against the artist’s company at the Randburg magistrate’s court in 2017 and it had also applied for another one last year and is waiting for the verdict. “The first action was instituted out of the Randburg magistrate’s court for the sum of R125 400 plus interest and costs. The applicant obtained judgment against the respondent. The second action was instituted out of the Randburg regional court for the sum of R342 000 plus interest and costs. The application for default judgment is pending,” read the papers.
Makgamathe added that despite
The application is to wind up the respondent as it is deemed unable to pay the debt
the judgment obtained, Cassper Nyovest’s company has still failed to pay the quantum due.
She further explained that Samro has written to SARS, Master of the High Court in Joburg, Companies and Intellectual Property Commission and Family Tree employees to inform them of the liquidation. “This application is to wind up the respondent as it is deemed unable to pay its debts,” reads the paper.
Cassper Nyovest failed to return calls and did not respond to questions sent via Whatsapp.