Artists complain of not being paid by CHDM after jazz festival

Local musicians are in conflict with the Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM) over unpaid fees for their performances at the October Chris Hani Annual Jazz Festival in Cradock.

The musicians are demanding payment for their work, but the municipality has yet to provide compensation.

After being given the runaround both before and after the event, the musicians were allegedly told that they would receive their payment 30 days after their performance.

In an interview with The Rep, Lungiswa Songelwa stated that the week before the festival, they were informed that the venue had been changed from Komani to Cradock. No reason was given, but they suspected that it was due to the protests that had erupted at the previous year’s jazz festival.

They were told to inform the rest of the band members, but the topic of how artists would be paid was never discussed.

Songelwa said this was a red flag and they should have been more suspicious.

“At the follow-up meeting before the event, the meeting was interrupted and the officials were evasive. They claimed to be busy with roadshows for Chris Hani Month and other programmes. Only Thamsanqa Singeni and Xoliswa Khwaza were present.”

Despite their persistence, the band representatives were unable to secure a meeting with the officials before the event.

“The band leaders requested a contract, as well as information on how much each band would be paid. But, Singeni simply told the artists to prepare for the festival, instead of answering our questions.”

Songelwa indicated that they were informed that the festival had been rescheduled from September 30 to October 20, due to internal challenges at the municipality. They were assured the festival would take place.

Despite their best efforts, the band representatives were unable to get in touch with the officials, who refused to address their concerns. “We continued to prepare for the festival, despite the lack of communication from the municipality.”

On the day of the event, Songelwa said, “we received the shock of our lives”.

Singeni told the artists to meet up at the Iped offices, taxis were hired to transport them to Cradock and nothing was said about the money.

“We wanted to boycott the festival because we felt that we were not being given attention.

“The biggest mistake we made was not signing the contract before we performed with CHDM.”

Despite their frustrations,

Nozibele Mtandeki said, the local musicians decided not to humiliate their district municipality by boycotting the festival.

“After the festival, we went to ask about the payment at the municipality.

“Singeni told us to wait for 30 days to pass.

“Thirty days passed, and 20 more days after that we went to CHDM’s mayor Lusanda Sizani who was surprised that we still had not received our money.

“He said to us the issue would be sorted out.”

During this time, Mtandeki said, they were in and out of the municipality about their payment they were always referred to the CFO, who was never available to speak to.

“On Friday, we went to their end-of-year function in the Indoor Sports Centre and when we spoke to the CFO, he was very arrogant to us. He said this was not the place to speak to him about that.”

On Monday, The Rep saw more artists visiting the municipality to find out developments on their payment.

In response, CHDM spokesperson Bulie Ganyaza said: “The district municipality regrets the delays and is handling the matter as payments are being processed.”

But no time frame was given on how long it would take for the musicians to receive their money.