Bakwena Productions’ production accountant, Bongi Mzamane, has shared her perspective about the company’s failure to pay salaries.
Mzamane was in charge of daily payments, petty cash, and staff salary payments for the Pound 4 Pound series on the BET channel.
“This is my first project where I had no access to the bank account,” Mzamane said.
“I’d received a payment requisition from the crew, then I’d check and verify if everything was in order.
“After this, I’d submit the requisition form to Rashaka [Muofhe, one of the Bakwena Production owners] and Kagiso [Medupe] for processing of payment.”
Mzamane stated further: “I didn’t have access to the bank account for this project, and I don’t even know how much was in there.
Normally, the channel would deposit the funds into the company’s bank account, then transfer them to the project’s bank account, allowing me to make payments to the cast and crew.
“But on this project, this was not the case. I wasn’t given access to the bank accounts.
“I knew this was a warning sign from the beginning, but I didn’t want to overthink things and destroy the relationship.”
Mzamane stated that her decision to come out stems from being used as a scapegoat.
Guesthouse allegedly owed R6 800
“I am hurt and disappointed because people are referring to me for payments. Unfortunately, I cannot help them because I’m in the same predicament; they owe me over R50 000 for my work.”
She claimed that despite her efforts, she has not received a favourable response from Muofhe, one of the owners of Bakwena Production.
Additionally, it can be disclosed by Sunday World that Bakwena Production is accused of not paying guesthouse operators.
A source who asked to remain anonymous said: “They owe the guesthouse R6 800 for two rooms. The cast and crew used the guesthouse to rest and change.
“They were supposed to pay on arrival or on September 5, but they said their bank card had problems. They later changed the story and said they paid already.”
Continued the source: “Eventually, the guesthouse demanded Rashaka to send a proof of payment, but he failed to forward it.
“He then promised to pay on the following Monday, but the payment never came through; instead, he blocked them.”
Muofhe and Medupe have not responded to Sunday World’s attempts to contact them.
