Legends concert a no-show

What promised to be a concert showcasing some of the best SA music talent turned out to be a damp squib at Buffalo Park stadium on Saturday, angering fans who had parted with hundreds of rands for tickets.

Organisers of the Legends Heritage 2019 concert cancelled the show after expectant fans had already queued for hours, with artists refusing to arrive because they had not been paid.

The concert was supposed to feature top South African artists like the award-winning The Soil and Joyous Celebration’s Sbu Noah. Other artists on the bill included the legendary Lusanda Mcinga, Idols winner Musa, Veliswa Skeyi, Khanyisa Sabuka, Butho Vuthela, Malibongwe Gcwabe, TV personality Stoan Seate, actress Brenda Ngxoli and radio presenter Lali Tokwe. Vovee Batala was going to direct the programme for the day.

Ticket prices ranged from R120 to R1,490 per person.

The concert was scheduled to start at noon on Saturday, but at midday the organisers posted on their Facebook page that there were delays and the show would only start at 6pm.

At about 2pm, there were some 100 people waiting for the concert to start. But when the Dispatch returned just after 6pm, there was still no sign the concert would be starting.

Ready for what they expected to be a night of great music, music lovers had camped outside the venue on deck chairs, entertaining themselves dancing to music from their cars.

Then the announcement came that the show had been cancelled.

A man, who did not introduce himself by name, told people, among them several police officers, that the show was cancelled.

“We regret to inform you that the show will no longer take place. Refunds will be made. Please do not lose your tickets,” the man said. He said the local organising committee had been unable to secure “certain things”, and was unable to commit further.

Some of the artists shed some light on what had happened.

Zundithwale hitmaker Betusile Mcinga said he and his mother Lusanda decided not to attend the event because they had not been paid.

“It was a huge inconvenience because I turned down many invites to honour this one,” he said.

Velile Sithole, who manages The Soil, said the organisers never told him there was an issue with payment.

“On Friday we received a letter that was not promising payment at all but stating that the organisers were still hoping that their sponsors would pay them eventually. We had given the organisers a huge discount for The Soil performance and after that we declined two other performances. We had promised the organiser in East London that we would help him although it would cost The Soil a lot of money. The other gigs would have been in Kimberly and Johannesburg,” he said.

“When we got the letter on Friday we felt betrayed and used. This means they were expecting The Soil to come and perform based on their promise and not knowing if they will ever be paid.”

Attempts to get comment from one of the organisers, a person known only as Dineo, were unsuccessful as her phone went straight to voice mail. The cancellation angered fans, who said they felt disrespected and taken for fools.