In his corporate role, Kgalagadi Jazz promoter and real estate businessman Shima Moganeng seems removed from the events that almost marred the Bhudaza evening concert.
Monageng says that he went backstage to use the bathroom, but never with the intention of tangling with the musician.
“On my way to the bathroom ,I decided that I should drop into Bhudaza’s changing room. After all, we have worked together on previous shows that I have organised and I wanted to compliment him on a great performance while the opportunity presented itself because it was during the interval,” he says.
He entered the changing room to find Bhudaza with one bouncer there. He greeted the bouncer (identified as Pampu Senwelo), but as he advanced to greet Bhudaza, Monageng says that he had the feeling that he was not welcome in the room.
“He went ballistic when I greeted him. Immediately he told me that I knew what I did to him last year. I was surprised that he still thinks that he got cheated. I realised then that I was upsetting him and that could affect the rest of his performance. I excused myself, but as I was doing so, he on the other hand was kicking me out of his room,” he says.
According to Monageng, there was a problem during their last encounter where Bhudaza was a major attraction in the Jazz Indaba 4 concert in October. He says that Bhudaza made a query prior to the show about the promotional t-shirts that were sold at the Jazz Indaba.
“He asked me about the t-shirts after he noticed some of the ushers were dressed in t-shirts with an imprint of his image. He liked the concept and then asked what he was getting out of the sales from those t-shirts. I and my partners at Kgalagadi Jazz company explained that the t-shirts had been printed at a cost therefore were not meant for profit, but were part of his promotion as a performer and new artist. He did not take very well to that but after we showed him the figures of the t-shirt prints and costs incurred, it seemed like he understood though the issues was not finalised. We were too caught up with the preparation for the show,” Monageng says. He adds that the contract he signed with the musician gave him exclusive and irrevocable rights to arrange for publicity.
“There were 60 t-shirts that were printed, each sold at P60. We told him that the money was going into his promotion as an artist. No one pocketed from the sales of those t-shirts,” Monageng explains. They bought the t-shirts at P40 and printed them at a cost of P20 each.
When Jazz Indaba IV came to a successful close, Monageng thought the issue was water under the bridge, but little did he know that for Bhudaza the bridge had already been torched.
For Louis Nchindo’s farewell party last year September, Monageng’s services and assistance were engaged at short notice by Debswana to help make contact with a prominent artist.
A war of words erupted when he tried to get Bhudaza on board. Because of the argument, they never got around to discuss the farewell party. Nchindo’s personal favourite and first choice, Tsepo Tshola was drafted in for the party.
“After that initial call, I called him afterwards about his CD, Bo-Mapefane to possibly conduct a radio interview with him, but he became rude and brought the t-shirt issue up. There was an exchange of words and he made threats to report me to the newspapers,” Monageng says.
He believes that Bhudaza exploited the situation and manipulated the facts about the dispute. A director of Kgalagadi Jazz Company Monti Tlagae told Showtime that they never anticipated a problem with the musician.
“On that Sunday after the Friday Bhudaza performed, Shima played his music a lot on radio on his show. We never anticipated that there was a problem until the newspaper reports. Even before the show, we helped them sell the tickets at Kalahari Music World. P16 000 worth of those tickets were sold from our outlet,” Tlagae says.
Soares Katumbela, the promoter who brought Bhudaza on March 5, says that Monageng should have communicated with the musician before printing the t-shirts, regardless of whether there was profit to be made or not. He said Bhudaza, Monageng and himself will hold a meeting to end things amicably.
