DJ and producer Thapelo Ndou, popularly known as Busta929, left fans in Zimbabwe highly disappointed after failing to pitch up for a gig on December 31, and organisers are up in arms and seething.
Organizers of the event and Busta 929’s team are on a wild goose chase regarding a R100 000 refund they are entitled to because of the “mess up”.
Sunday World can exclusively reveal that Busta 929 was booked as the main act for the Munch and Sip food festival in Bulawayo.
According to a source who cannot be revealed, Siyabonga Hazo, who is a booking agent, and usually does bookings for gigs in Zimbabwe, had organised a series of artists to perform. Initially, he had secured Mellow and Sleazy, but it later turned out that they were double booked.
When Sunday World reached out to the organisers, they said they were still in talks with Busta 9292 and his team regarding refund procedures.
After failing to secure Mellow and Sleazy, Hazo suggested Busta 929 as an alternative, and accordingly, the organisers picked him. Both parties agreed on a fee and signed contracts.
“They assured us that they were excited to come to Zimbabwe, a poster and marketing strategy was put into place, and we took the backlash on our strides, especially because of Busta 929 controversies.
“We continued and stood by the decision we had made, and we were required to pay everything in full and because of exchange rates he then explained that we were short by R5 000, and we sent it the day before he was supposed to travel,” said the organisers.
On the day of the event, Busta 929 and his team reassured the organisers that they were going to be there. Around 4pm they informed the organisers that they had missed their flight.
“At this time the show had already started, and we did not know how to tell people that Busta 929 was no longer coming, so we let the show go on.”
The organisers got a lot of backlash, and when they made the announcement they had a lot of disgruntled people who threw bottles on the stage.
One of the bottles damaged the stage manager’s compact disk jockey.
When contacted for comment, Hazo confirmed they did not make it to the gig in Bulawayo.
“We missed our flights; however, we did check in though, but immigration lines were long, hence we missed our flight,” Hazo said.
