Vee not among unpaid Metro FM award winners
Spira Tlhankane | Tuesday May 9, 2017 18:00
Vee won the One Africa award at the 16th Metro Music Awards, which took place three months ago in Durban and has already received his R100,000 prize money.
Reports indicate that the majority of artists including big winners on the night like Mabala Noise’s Nasty C have not been paid due to them not signing their contracts on time or delays in submitting invoices.
Vee Mampeezy confirmed to Showbiz in an interview that he has already pocked his share. “I have already been paid. That issue could have affected other artists not me,” he said.
The decorated local artist was shocked to hear the news that other artists have not been paid after this long. Rumours were rife after the awards that he used the same money to donate the P10,000 cash to Kast’s Tlatsa Lebala event on top of the P30,000 worth of performance.
Vee Mampeezy could be among the first group that sent invoices after the awards and were paid immediately at the end of that month.
Reports from the South African media also reveal that the public broadcaster was broke and therefore they prioritised the payment of production companies that were producing programmes like soapies and magazine programmes.
SABC is said to be prioritising their payments for the coming months once the affected artists have submitted invoices.
The broke broadcaster is also reported to have told artists about the current financial situation and promised that the affected groups would be paid. Metro FM introduced the R100,000 prize money to support artists financially.
The award winners and performers are said to be owed more than R3 million.
The issues of artists getting paid later than usual is also common in Botswana with music awards like the Botswana Musician Union (BOMU) awards.