In what started as a dramatic extraordinary meeting (EGM) on Friday, hosted virtually at the behest of the Samro board members and ordinary members who are musicians, composers, publishers, and authors, among others, things took a nasty turn throughout the meeting.
This happened while other members of Samro were locked out from entering the organisation’s headquarters in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. They were demanding to be in the meeting physically.
Artists protest at the venue
When the meeting started, members such as Poet Mzwakhe Mbuli, Tebogo Sithathu, Vusi Leeuw, and the board member, Gabi le Roux, the producer of Mandoza’s all-time hit, Nkalakatha, protested and demanded that Nicholas Maweni, the Samro chairperson, recuse himself from chairing the meeting. They claimed that he was biased towards dealing with pertinent issues involving Samro.
Samro had been in the news recently over the scandal of the alleged corruption of the looted R60-million. This and the suspension of the organisation’s COO, Mpho Mofikoe, who clashed with the CEO, Annabell Lebethe. As well as the board members, over her being a whistleblower on graft at the collecting agency.
Things got heated when Mbuli, who spoke from outside the Samro building, stated that Maweni and his board were using bullying tactics and dictatorship when they were dealing with the issues raised by members.
“Why people can’t let go. Even in the court of law, judges or magistrates can recuse themselves when people are not happy. I am saying to you arts practitioners and composers are not happy. So whatever decision you will take, we are going to reject, dismiss, and regroup. We cannot allow such a dictatorship to happen,” said Mbuli.
Board accused of corruption
Samro member Motsumi Mokhethi said that Maweni and his board members were trying hard to mislead its members. He claimed this was an agenda that was tabled. This is aimed at pushing a narrative that favours a certain group of Samro executives and board members.
“You are trying to mislead us. Whose mandate is Samro representing? And at this meeting, which people does Samro represent? As Samro members, we want you to listen to us. A members, as we have problems that we want to raise today, not tomorrow,” said Mokhethi.
Maweni defended the board and said that as the board, they were elected by members. He said he was not going to recuse himself.
Even after Leeuw and Sithathu had made it clear that Maweni was conflicted, the chairperson told them that he was not going to recuse himself. He told those who demanded his recusal to go fly a kite.
Prolific music producer and businessman Sello Chicco Thwala also raised concerns. He questioned the manner in which the EGM was organised. And he stated that the virtual meeting was completely misplaced.
“We have people who are technologically challenged. Some are elders who are not familiar with technology, and they wanted to be part of this meeting so badly. But Samro had decided to shut them out,” he said.
Meeting unfair to struggling members
“If this meeting was held as a hybrid one, everyone was going to be accommodated. But now it’s a virtual meeting that only accommodated a few. This is an act of marginalising other members. Some cannot even afford to buy the same data to use so that they can be part of the meeting,” said Thwala.
Samro has more than 25,000 members in good standing. However, only less than 200 members are part of the virtual meeting. Thousands are having challenges joining the meeting. Others were allegedly deliberately blocked from joining online.
Le Roux also stated that it was sad that the board he is part of was divided. He demanded that Maweni recuse himself, and also asked for the whole board to be dissolved.
This came after one independent board member, who is the deputy chairperson, Sisa Mayekiso, stated that the removal of the three board members, who included Rowlin Naicker, Ryan Hill, and Louise Bulley, on July 10 had been set aside. And that new votes were needed from the members to decide if the trio stay removed or get reinstated.
EFF member of parliament and Trompies star Eugene Mthethwa also took a swipe at some board members. He called them incompetent and stated that they did not deserve to be on board as they were compromised.
Tempers were flying
It was clear that if the meeting were held in a hybrid fashion, there would be blood on the floor. This emotions and tempers were flying during the virtual meeting.
Sithathu said the board was useless, and that it was not representing the members. But represented a cabal of board members and the executive. And he had accused them of capturing Samro.
This reporter managed to sneak into the meeting on Friday morning. But he was later kicked out of the proceedings by the host.
