allAfrica.com: Botswana: Mapetla Contradicts Manager (Page 1 of 1)

Musician Thabo Ntirang (Mapetla) has denied claims by his manager that he had a gentleman's agreement to perform at the Magic King Club in Gabane in March.

The no-show of Mapetla reportedly saw revellers who had paid to watch him on stage cause commotion and damage at the club. The musician says he only got to know about the show a few hours before it was to kick-off. He said as far as he is concerned, he did not have an agreement to perform at the club because he works with a written contract.

This means that without a written contract, he does not perform. He explained to Showbiz that he takes his music career very seriously hence he requires a contract prior to staging a show. He said he operates in a very professional manner. He explained that it is unprofessional for some people to put out banners advertising music shows without a signed contract with the performers.

But his manager, Victor Thobela, says that a gentleman's agreement was made that the musician would perform at Magic King on March 1. He said he was contacted by Mmoloki Gaedupe aka DJ Mox concerning Mapetla's performance at the club. After discussing the issue with Mapetla, he went back to Gaedupe and confirmed that indeed the musician would perform. He said the Monday before March 1 date, Mapetla assured him that he was going to perform and he relayed the information to Gaedupe. Thobela told Showbiz that on the day Mapetla was to be at Magic King, he had an afternoon show at the Youth Expo at Ditshupo Hall. He said he called the musician after the show and got assurance that he would be at Magic King. He conceded that he went to the club with two men in the evening to set up the music equipment and sell tickets. Thobela said he tried to call Mapetla, while still at the club but his phone was off. He called another person who was with Mapetla at the time and the musician came to the phone and reiterated that he would be at Magic King. He said as it was getting late, he decided to go to Mapetla's house. When he arrived at the house, the musician informed him that the other people he was supposed to perform with had disappeared. The manager said he tried to persuade Mapetla to go to Magic King for an appearance, but he refused. He said he went back to the club and only left around six in the morning. He refuted claims that the club was badly damaged. He said the only thing that was damaged was the gate.

He said people were asked to line-up so they could be given back their money. But Gaedupe disappeared with the money. He later learned that he was mugged and the money was taken from him. He confirmed that none of the revellers received their money. He said the money raised from selling tickets was around P15,000.

The aborted show at Magic King saw patrons paying P10 before midnight and P20 after midnight to see Mapetla in action. When the musician failed to appear, club owner, Mohammed Sobhan said that those who had paid became violent. He said trying to keep the crowd under control was quite a challenge and he had to summon the police who arrived late. He said by the time order was restored, the club was damaged with broken mirrors. A fridge, speakers and the gate was damaged. Sobhan explained that he had charged his promotions man Gaedupe to negotiate with Mapetla for the widely advertised music show. Gaedupe told Showbiz that he contacted Mapetla to perform at Magic King but the musician referred him to his manager, Victor Thobela. He said he reached an agreement with the manager that Mapetla and his crew would perform at the club on March 1. Gaedupe explained that under the agreement, the musician was not to be paid up front. Instead, Mapetla was supposed to keep 80 percent of the gate takings while the club gets the remaining 20 percent. Both Gaedupe and Sobhan said they made arrangements for fliers to be printed for advertising the show. The P400 cost of the advertising was supposed to be taken out of the proceeds of the show. Sobhan said he used another P1,500 to hire extras for his music system since he wanted the show to be perfect. He explained that around 8.30pm, they started setting up the system and Mapetla's manager showed up with two men. One of the men connected the microphones and another sold tickets. Sobhan explained that Mapetla's manager left the club to pick up the musician. But to their surprise, Mapetla never showed up. He said both men have refused to answer their phones.

Gaedupe says he was assaulted and robbed of the gate-takings, a cellphone by rowdy revellers who had lined-up to be refunded their money. Sobhan says he wants Mapetla and his manager to pay for all the damages he incurred as a result of the aborted show. Should they fail to pay, he will go to court to seek redress, he said.

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