Kwaito king Arthur Mafokate is embroiled in a legal imbroglio with a Jozi company over a power generator he allegedly hired but failed to return.
M& M Hiring Marquee CC wants the 999 Music boss to replace the expensive generator, worth R250 000, which he hired for a music event in Rustenburg, North West in 2018 but failed to return it to their offices.
The company has filed a lawsuit against Mafokate in the Johannesburg High Court where they seek an order to force to replace the generator worth R250 000.
News of their looming legal showdown came to the fore when the company lawyer, Wilfred Kedibona of Mahlokwane Attorneys, wrote a letter to former 999 Music manager and Mafokate’s nemesis, Brian Mokoena, inviting him to testify against the muso in their lawsuit trial scheduled for Joburg High Court next month.
Mokoena and Mafokate drifted apart over a financial dispute a few years ago.
This after Mokoena deposed an affidavit at Midrand Police Station in 2019 alleging that Mafokate stole R6 million of the R9.5 million his non-profit organisation, South African Arts and (SAADA), received from the National Lottery Commission ( NLC).
He also alleged that Mafokate’s ex-girlfriend Chomee and his son Arthur Mafokate Junior ( AJ) allegedly abused the organisation’s vehicles when they used them as transport to their own gigs.
Sent to Mokoena last week, the letter, which we have seen, reads in part: “We are attorneys for M & M Hiring Marquee CC ( hereinafter our client). There is a matter between our client and 99 Music Corporation set down on 12 April 2022 at Johannesburg High Court. We are duly advised that you are a former employee of 999 Music Corporation.
Our client launched a lawsuit against 999 Music for services rendered or for hired equipment not returned. We were duly informed at the time our client rendered services you were still in the employ of 999 Music.
Our client intends to call you as a witness on the 12th of April to provide testimony in relation to an incident that occurred on 24 January 2018. The incident relates to services rendered by our client. Your testimony will be of great value to assist the court in adjudicating a dispute between the two parties.”
Mokoena confirmed that he was requested to testify against the award-winning muso over the matter.
“I can confirm that the lawyers have written to me and asked me to be a witness in this case and as a law-abiding citizen of this country, I have no choice but to corporate with them,” he said.
Mokoena said the generator was hired and used at a 999 Music event in Rustenburg in 2018.
He said after the show, the gigantic generator was loaded into a truck by the company employees who later hit the road to Joburg.
He said the employees discovered that the generator was no longer in the truck when they arrived at the company’s offices in Joburg. “The company has been trying to ask him to replace the generator but he refused. That is why we are where we are today,” he said.
Mafokate declined to comment and said the matter was sub judice.
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