Thabang in court for common nuisance

Portia Mlilo
CHARGED: Thabang

Local Jazz Artist, Thabang Gaarogwe, is facing one count of common nuisance after he allegedly harassed Copyright Society of Botswana Chief Executive Officer Lesego Solotate.

On Wednesday the ‘Ke a Gana’ hit maker was summoned to Old Naledi Customary Court where his case was set for hearing on the 17th of June.

Last month Garogwe and other artists are said to have confronted the CEO at his office demanding payments for royalties and they allegedly locked him up in the boardroom.

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The confrontation allegedly followed a lengthy wait for royalties by the concerned artists.

Speaking to The Voice Online, Garogwe said all they wanted was their money as they sacrifice a lot to record their music.

He said their industry was affected by Covid-19 since music festivals and corporate events were cancelled, so they demanded their royalties for survival.

“He walked out of our meeting and we had to stop him by closing the door so that we could talk. We have bills to pay and we spend a lot of money recording the music. We work so hard and it is painful that Cosbots leadership is not taking us seriously. Two weeks after we went to his office, we received royalties. I got P2000, for 13 months. That money cannot even record a song, it is an insult. Something is not done right, this organisation needs to be investigated. As musicians we need to continue standing for our rights and no one can do that better than ourselves. These are challenging times for us,” said Garogwe.

He said Cosbots is supposed to pay their royalties after every six months and they never do it.

Garogwe said it was unfortunate because broadcasters pay their royalties and Cosbots decide to keep it, which he said is disrespect that he will never tolerate. He said the organisation was audited but they never received the report from CIPA as musicians.

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SERVED: Criminal summons
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