Award-winning gospel singer Canaan Nyathi was kicked out of the line-up of artists who performed at the Limpopo Legends Awards (Lila) for being greedy.
Nyathi was booted out of by Lila organiser and founder Mphoza Mashabela after the artist demanded more money than what they had initially agreed to in their booking contract.
Nyathi, who won the best gospel artist gong at the Crown Gospel Music Awards in 2023, was replaced with rapper and Ama2000 president Shebeshxt.
The no-nonsense Mashabela afterwards wrote a letter of demand to Nyathi, through his lawyers Thobejane Attorneys, to pay back the performance fee he had paid him.
News that Nyathi was expunged from the lineup of the annual event became known after he cocked a snook at a letter of demand from Thobejane Attorneys, asking him to pay back the money.
In the letter that Sunday World has seen, Mashabela said he paid Nyathi R30,000 to strut his stuff at the event in November last year.
But the event was postponed to Friday, March 28, with Nyathi’s consent.
“It is our instructions that our client entered into an agreement with you to perform at the Lila Awards 2024, scheduled to take place in November 2024.
“And the same was shifted to March 28, 2025. It is our client’s version that an invoice was issued to the value of R3000, which has since been paid,” read the letter.
The lawyers said when Mashabela reminded Nyathi, whose ditty Baba Ziveze busted the charts in South Africa and his native country, Zimbabwe, about the event, he demanded an extra R5 000.
“You further demanded an extra R5 000 to complete the bookings during the preparations of the event, and the parties did not reach any agreement, which resulted in you confirming that you can refund the client, which we view as pure exceptional towards your policy, and for that reason alone, the client felt very uncomfortable and claimed the money back,” read the letter.
The lawyers further stated that as a result of removing Nyathi from the line-up, Mashabela secured Shebeshxt to replace him.
They said Mashabela needed the refund to pay Shebeshxt, as the impresario no longer had sufficient funds to pay the hip-hop artist’s booking fee.
The lawyers demanded that Nyathi pay back the money within 24 hours, but the artist refused.
“To avoid further legal actions, which will include the claim for interest and legal costs, we request you to pay the aforesaid amount immediately into our trust account,” read the letter of demand.
