The number of artists that are not being paid for their work in South Africa is rising every single day it seems and it’s crazy that people don’t want to pay for services rendered.
Gospel star and award winning musician Sechaba Pali was apparently beaten up with his pregnant companion by security guards at the Free State municipality building earlier last week.
Sunday World reports that Sechaba said the security guards beat him several times ignoring his pleas asking them to stop.
It’s also reported that the musicians life has been in danger for a while now, receiving threatening calls from people promising to kill him if he pressed charges against the Matjhabeng Local Municipality security guards.
Sechaba Pali, told Sunday World that the life threats started when he went to the Matjhabeng Local Municipality in Welkom last week Wednesday to collect a cheque of R120000 for appearance fees.
Sechaba continues to say that he was told to come collect his cheque by the executive mayor Sebenzile Ngangelizwe after months of a back and forth between the two parties.
“I phoned MEC for Social Development Sisi Mantombela on Tuesday and complained that these people were refusing to pay me for the six shows I did last year. After a while she phoned me and said the matter was sorted and handed her phone over to Ngangelizwe who told me to come to Welkom to collect my money on Wednesday,” he said.
Sechaba says that upon his arrival mayor Ngangelizwe asked him to produce evidence or give him an invoice.
Ngangelizwe refused an opportunity to comment when Sunday World approached him.
“I told him I did not have an invoice and asked him why he did not tell me that when I was talking to him on the phone the previous day but he stood up and walked out of his office. After not returning to his office for about an hour, I went to his secretary and asked if he was still around but she said she did not know,” said Pali.
Sechaba says he found the mayor outside of the municipal buildings and then requested a sum of money for petrol so he could be able to return to Johannesburg to collect the invoice but Ngangelizwe just ignored his request.
Sechaba continues to say on his attempt to leave the premises, a bakkie blocked his way and a sum of municipal guards ran to his car and began to assault him.
“They kicked and punched me several times even when I was lying on the ground begging them to stop,” he said.
The guards then turned to assault his female companion that was in the car with him as she tried to intervene.
“She started bleeding and was taken by someone from the scene. I don’t know this woman, I didn’t even take her cellphone number. She approached me in town and asked me for money to buy food. Because I was hopeful that I would be paid I asked her to come with me to the municipal offices. I’m now trying to locate her and find out if she and the baby were OK,” he said.
Sechaba was then quoted saying that the guards took him and his companion to the Welkom police station and tried to open a case of assault against him. “But the police told them it should be the mayor who should open the case against me if I assaulted him. I also didn’t open a case of assault against them because there are people who promised to deal with this matter. But I may reconsider my decision because there are people who are phoning me and threatening to kill me if I open a case against them,” he said.
Municipal manager Mothusi Lepheana that he would only comment on the incident once he receives a report that has the details of the assault in question.
Mothusi told Sunday World: “We don’t assault people who come to our offices for payments. We are treating this matter with the seriousness it deserves. I also don’t understand why the mayor and the MEC would be involved in payments of service providers because that is a supply chain issue,” he said.
Welkom police spokeswoman Laetitia Rothman confirmed to Sunday World that they did indeed reject the municipal guard’s attempt to open a case of assault on behalf of the mayor. “It is the responsibility of the victim to open a case. As for the singer we don’t understand why he did not open a case,” she said.
