Legal troubles for controversial artist King Monada continue to pile up after another music promoter filed a lawsuit against him for failing to show up at a music festival.
Impresario Eric Thoka, has dragged Monada to Ritavi Magistrate’s Court in Nkowankowa, outside Tzaneen, Limpopo, after the popular recording superstar refused to refund him for
failing to pitch up at a festival Thoka organised on New Year’s day last year.
News that Monada is in the soup came to the fore after the copy of the summons Thoka obtained against him was leaked to Sunday World by the artist’s associates, who lamented his lack of professionalism.
They approached us after they read a story we previously published in this newspaper, stating that the chairperson of the Limpopo Arts Movement, Mphoza Mashabela, was suing Monada for failing to pitch up at the Limpopo Legends Awards event he organised about two years ago.
Dated March 17, the summons, which Thoka obtained under his company, Monate Africa, states that the muso refused to refund him after failing to pitch up at his event.
“To the sheriff or his deputy, inform King Monada Music that Monate Africa hereby institutes action against the defendant in which action the plaintiff claims the relief on the grounds set out in the particulars of claim attached hereto,” read the papers.
Speaking to Sunday World about Monada’s indiscretion, Thoka said he paid the Skabhora Moreki hitmaker R49 000 to come and serenade the kings and queens of Lebowakgomo township outside Polokwane on New Year’s Day last year.
He explained that after paying the Idibala hitmaker, they printed posters and flyers and distributed them to promote and market the show.
As a result, he said, Monada’s supporters bought tickets in droves to come and rub shoulders with the object of their obsession.
But to their disappointment, Monada did not show up, prompting the supporters to take to social media, accusing Thoka of lying to them that he had booked the icon to entertain them at the carnival.
“On the day he was due to perform, we called him to find out his whereabouts. He replied by saying that he was in Pretoria, apparently attending another gig and promised to come to our show on time,” he said.
He said that when they realised that his time to perform was approaching, they called him again, but his phones were off.
Thoka said they then explained to Monada’s fans that they couldn’t reach him on his cellphones and did not know if he was still coming.
He said Monada’s dejected fans dispersed to their respective homes in the wee hours of the morning after realising that he was not coming to enthral them.
“We stayed there until 5pm the following day because we needed to remove the stage and the sound system that we were using. He later phoned me and said he came to the show but he did not find us, but he was lying. We then asked him to refund us but he said we should organise another show for him. But we refused and told him that that’s not how we do business and emphasise on a refund,” he said.
Thoka then said Monada complained that they made him a headline artist for their show but short-changed him by not paying the related fee.
“We told him that he was not a headliner,” he said.
Thoka said after promising to refund them, Monada, who drives a fleet of luxury vehicles, stopped taking their calls until his manager Albert Makwela intervened and promised to resolve the matter.
“But after several months of not getting our money, we decided to go the legal route. And when you guys published a story involving Mashabela, we realised that we were not alone and decided to come out because we needed to stop this,” he said.
Mashabela’s lawsuit against Monada, which was held in the same court on Monday, was postponed to later this month.
