An Eastern Cape artist pulled a Jomo Sono when he left his wedding reception for an awards ceremony but the end result was not as glorious as the legendary number 10 soccer player.
Anele Ncanda did not get a single nod for the four awards he had been nominated in at the Eastern Cape Music Awards which were hosted in East London on February 2.
Ncanda said the awards were supposed to take place last year but they had been postponed three times and the new date fell on his wedding day.
“The ceremony was cut short because I was rushing to the awards. We did not even take pictures at the wedding.
“Now I regret that decision because I feel like I wasted my time. I should have spent more time at the wedding,” he said.
On February 10 1979, just moments after he had said “I do” at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Orlando in Soweto, Sono learnt that his then team, Orlando Pirates, were 2-0 down against Highlands Park.
So he left his guests and rushed to the stadium. He joined the game in the second half and created three goals and scored one himself. Chuffed with himself, he returned to his wedding reception, a decision he described as “madness”.
And Ncanda feels like it is unfair that he failed to walk away with at least one award.
“I campaigned all over the country trying to garner votes.”
This is not the first time the awards’ credibility has been questioned. Serious questions were raised when former kwaito star Mashava bagged an award even though he had not released an album or single in years.
Yongama Mrwetyana, another artist, said he too was displeased with the outcome of the awards.
“I did not win anything. Most of the winners were from East London or under KK Productions,” he said.
Contacted for comment, event organiser Koko Godlo dismissed the allegations that only people from BCM won.
“There were 12 categories at the awards. Six of them were won by people from the [former] Transkei, five by BCM people and the last one was won by someone from Ngqushwa.
“We were not biased against anyone. If anything people from the [former] Transkei won more awards. We do not have a panel of judges and it was based on votes,” he said.
Godlo said the public could visit their offices to view the voting records...