SOUTH African artiste Dan Tshanda of the Splash fame has come under fire for his alleged unprofessional conduct after he inexplicably cancelled the much-hyped shows at the last minute despite being paid full in advance by local promoters.
OWN CORRESPONDENT
Tshanda and his groups — Peacock, Dalmon Kids — were due to perform in Bulawayo and Hwange respectively over the week and but the South African musician called off the shows without giving firm reasons for his action, advising promoters to apologise to his legion of fans.
But his actions have not gone down well with promoters, local musicians that had been roped in to share the stage with Splash and his local fans, who accuse the South African of taking them for granted.
Kingston Lussate of Lussate Marketing, who had organised the shows, hinted all was not well in Tshanda’s camp ahead of the Zimbabwe shows.
“From what we heard from his manager he and his band members were not in good books and it is reported that he did not pay his band members the money we had sent him. This is a great loss and we apologise to our fans,” Lussate said.
Cont Mhlanga, the director of Amakhosi Theatre Centre, said he was so disappointed with Tshanda’s behaviour. Mhlanga, however, sympathised with the show organisers.
“I sympathise with the show organisers as they have incurred losses, but it was not their fault as the South African artist is known for controversy and has in the past done that with us at Amakhosi,” he said.
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“At one time we had to literary force him to come and perform from his South African base after giving us excuses. So this can never come as a surprise to us. It just sounds typical of Dan Tshanda, but we do not expect such behaviour from an artist of his calibre,” he added.
Mhlanga also saidthat this experience should teach fans and promoters to switch to local talent.
“Rather than relying on foreign performers, we should embrace local talent which is cheap to promote and more reliable than these foreigners. What Dan did was taking the country and the fans for granted.”
Jazz musician Jeys Marabini also expressed disappointment over Tshanda’s behaviour. “These South African musicians take the fans for granted yet they make most of their money from us. Dan’s actions were so unprofessional and we do not expect such from him.
“Nothing of this nature would have happened if it was local artists, so maybe it is time for fans to switch to locals,” Jeys added.
Local promoter and comedian Babongile Sikhonjwa was also not happy about the turn of events regarding Tshanda’s no-show.
“It is bad for the music industry. It leads to lack of trust between performers and fans. I sympathise with the organisers as they had the two shows well prepared for in advance. Getting people excited about the shows and calling them off is very bad. Thank God the news reached the fans early and there was no commotion at the venue,” Sikhonjwa said.
Efforts to get in touch with Dan Tshanda at his South African base were fruitless yesterday.
