South African singer Ami Faku is taking a bold stand to protect her music and career. According to MDN News on X, the award-winning artist has allegedly filed a lawsuit in the Johannesburg High Court against her manager, Raphael Benza, and his record label, Vth Season. She is demanding unpaid royalties and full transparency about how her earnings have been handled.
Ami Faku takes manager and label to court over unpaid royalties
Singer Ami Faku has filed a lawsuit against her manager, Raphael Benza, and his record label, Vth Season, in the Johannesburg High Court, alleging unpaid royalties and demanding transparency in their financial… pic.twitter.com/GIfAdu03hZ
— MDN NEWS (@MDNnewss) May 20, 2025Ami Faku, known for her successful album Imali, is asking the court to force Benza to share the label’s financial records and pay her the royalties she says are owed to her. She alleges that she has not been paid fairly and accuses Benza of exploiting her through unfair contracts when she was still new to the music industry.
Faku revealed that she invested over R400,000 of her own money to produce the Imali album and now wants full ownership of its master recordings.
According to Sunday World, In court papers, she said: “I am a black South African female music artist. I draw to the attention of this honourable court that I refer to my gender and my colour for the reason that the second respondent (who is a foreign national from Liberia) has a propensity to see out potentially successful young black female music artists and to entice them into a contractual relationship with either himself or with the first respondent to their detriment and to the first and second respondents’ financial gain.”
Faku also said that Benza, who was the late rapper AKA’s manager, approached her in 2018 and asked to manage her career. At the time, she said she was young, naïve, and unaware of how contracts worked. She signed three agreements without getting legal advice because she was not given the chance to consult with a lawyer.
The Asibe Happy hitmaker explained that the artist agreement she signed was originally for 12 months and expired in September 2019. It was then automatically extended through two 18-month periods, which ended in March 2021 and September 2023. She told the court:
“As such, in terms of the said agreement, the artist agreement terminated with the effluxion of time on at least 23 September 2023. As such, the artist agreement has come to an end.”
During the time of this contract, Faku wrote and recorded Imali, which helped make her one of the most loved voices in South Africa.
In addition to seeking the money she is owed, Ami Faku is also asking the court to cancel all of her agreements with Benza and Vth Season — including those for management and publishing.
