BOMU threatens to sue COSBOTS

LAWRENCE SERETSE
Correspondent | Thursday October 4, 2012 00:00

After a flopped meeting that was scheduled for yesterday between the Registrar of Companies and BOMU, sources have revealed that BOMU requested the registrar of companies to freeze the monitoring service tender until the illegitimate COSBOTS board has been cleared of nepotism and corruption.

The union questioned the legitimacy of the COSBOTS board, citing that the board members term expired 12 months ago and has not been re-appointed. 'The board is now sitting illegally, which means that everything they do is null and void, including the scandalous tender they awarded their chairperson.

This is the epitome of corruption,' Seabelo Modibe fumed in an interview. The union said that it has no knowledge of the matter and even if Monyame recused himself from the board prior to establishment of the monitoring services tender, the union and its members were not consulted and informed of anything.

Ever since COSBOTS came into existence in 2008, its stakeholders have not been consulted or made aware of any Code of Conduct of the society. BOMU is said to have been constantly requesting the minutes of the meeting held by the tender committee that issued Monyame the job, but to no avail.

Members of the union have maintained their stance that the registrar of companies is sleeping on his job.Frustrated members of the music union have revealed that since COSBOTS was registered they have never had any official contact except for two meetings, which members had a hard time initiating. 

Another reason for taking COSBOTS to court was that since the entire meeting was held, the collecting society still refuses to provide the minutes.  BOMU is a union that exists to represent the interests of artists in the entertainment industry. BOMU speaks on behalf of artists, therefore COSBOTS was supposed to have engaged the union in all its dealings so as to get a mandate from them.

This constant exclusion of the union has compromised the collection society.

How COSBOTS was fundedDuring his tenure, the former Minister of Trade and Industry Neo Moroka established a fund called the Blank Tape Levy for the professional development of authors and publishers of different works.

In 2008, the ministry granted COSBOTS P7 million so that it could begin operating. The funds were taken from the Blank Tape Levy to fund the organization with faith that it would serve the music and arts industry as stated in the Copyrights Act. (Technical Device Fund).

COSBOTS will receive the same grant amount annually, for a period of three years. From the grant, COSBOTS indulged in a tender that cost them P6 million, according to a website called muffin.com, a complete professional suite used to monitor broadcasters costs over half a million.

The system also comes with software that can be used as a stand-alone, and the costs do not accumulate to P6 million.