Event organiser Sipho Ndaba is accusing the KwaZulu-Natal MEC of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC), Mntomuhle Khawula and the mayor of the Ilangalibalele municipality, Tholumuzi Mduduzi Myeza, of stealing his event concept.
Ndaba runs an annual event, Last Dance Music Festival. The event has been running for 15 years, with the KZN DSAC being one of the main sponsors.
MEC promised to sponsor event
But this year, Khawula and Myeza allegedly sabotaged and stole Ndaba’s concept.
Ndaba told Sunday World that he applied for funding and Khawula promised to sponsor his event.
“He even made me present to him and his team and they were impressed. Based on our discussion and verbal agreements, I started preparing for the event. I booked artists, sold tickets, and hired service providers,” said Ndaba.
But Khawula was not interested in Ndaba’s presentation, only in his Last Dance concept.
Ndaba said that a few weeks later he came across a video of Myeza launching the Last Dance event.
“I saw a video where the mayor was launching my concept, Last Dance Music Festival. In the video he made it clear that they were doing this with Khawula. I was shocked and disappointed because I’d already done the presentation to Khawula and his team. But most importantly, Khawula knew that Last Dance is an established brand and my concept,” explained Ndaba.
His presentation was used for an event
“I contacted Myeza and told him that the Last Dance concept is mine and it’s a registered trademark. He pretended to listen but he continued to promote their event using my name. And it caused a huge confusion because people and artists thought I’d changed the venue.
“It was a clear sabotage because they were not only using my name, but they also booked the same artists. The dates were the same, 31 December 2024. The only difference was that, their event was free and mine was not free,” recalled Sipho.
Ndaba’s event was held at Royal Showgrounds, Pietermaritzburg. And Khawula’s event was held at Wembezi stadium, Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality.
Ndaba said that he told Khawula and the HOD Thobile Sifunda about the sabotage, but he was ignored.
MEC apologised for the ‘theft’
“Four days before the event, Myeza apologised for using my concept. And they renamed their event, it changed to KZN Year End Music Experience. I went back to Khawula and asked about funding. He told me there’s no money for my event.
“By this time, I was far too gone with the event preparations. I had no choice but to go and borrow money from the loan sharks. As we speak, I’m sinking in depression. I’m broke and highly in debt, I don’t know if I’ll ever get out of it,” said Ndaba.
Sunday World has seen Myeza’s public apology. It reads in part: “The office of the Mayor of Inkosi Langalibalele Municipality wishes to sincerely apologise to the public and all stakeholders for the unintended use of the name Last Dance Festival. The official name of this event is KZN Year End Music Experience, which is proudly brought to the municipality by the KwaZulu Natal Department of Sports Arts and Culture.”
Spokesperson denies all
Despite this public apology, the spokesperson of DSAC in KZN Ntando Mnyandu denied everything. “As the department, we organised and funded the KZN Year End Music Experience. [It] was never referred to as the Last Dance Music Festival.”
When asked about the funding, he said: “The department is not obliged to fund or support every event. There are strict guidelines that are followed, also taking into consideration the availability of funds.”
