The sour relationship between Yarona FM and its former morning show host, Robin Chivadze has hit a new low with the radio station dragging Chivadze to court for defamation.
Details of the P 5 million lawsuit are expected to make for an interesting hearing in a Goliath and David type of court battle as Yarona FM sues Chivadze for allegedly insinuating that the station stole the Yarona FM Music Awards (YAMAS) logos from him and spreading a negative perception that YARONA Fm was a thief that had exploited him.
Yarona FM Lawyer Mpho Makati has confirmed that the case between the station and their former Feel Good Foundation (FGF) show host is coming to court on February 25th for the setting of trial dates.
Chivadze and the station’s relationship soured in 2018 when he and his then co-presenter, Brando Keabilwe were fired from their prime slot. Keabilwe has since retraced his steps back to the morning show.
Things, however, took an interesting twist in 2019, when Chivadze through his company, Ventura attempted to stop the youthful stations’ popular music awards dubbed the Yarona FM Music Awards (YAMAs) alleging the concept was his.
In papers filed before the court, Yarona FM is attempting to set the record straight concerning the YAMA concept ownership.
The radio station’s chief witness, Dumilano Lopang is expected to tell the court that the YAMAS were his brainchild, birthed in 2005.
Lopang will tell the court that the YAMAs were conceptualized at the backdrop of his relationship with one of the organisers of the South African awards but only took off years later after a few stumbling blocks.
“The plaintiff (Yarona FM) discussed the model with the 1st defendant (Robin). He proposed to work with the station and a working model was agreed upon. This idea was discussed at the board level and the board was not interested to hire anyone to carry out the show and to whom they would pay large sums of money whether the show made money or not. The 1st defendant agreed to work on a profit-sharing model and not a guaranteed fee…. On the basis of the agreement signed, the first show was held in 2014,” Lopang has deposed in his statement filed in court as he argues that he introduced the idea to Robin and not the other way around.
Another witness for the Station will be Kelly Ramputswa, the 106.6 dials station manager.
She is expected to tell the court that one day when executing her duties she was notified by the CIPA clerk that the logos for the YAMAs which is an acronym for their awards show had already been registered.
Ramputswa will also tell the court how the relationship between the station and Robin deteriorated over the years especially where the awards are concerned.
Ramputswa will argue that at some point Robin organized another show, which was a direct competition of the awards show attracting the same crowd.
“The defendants have published a post which attracted comments that state clearly that the plaintiff (Yarona FM) stole logos from the defendant… the perception is that we are thieves and they have exploited the defendants,” Ramputswa is expected to tell the court.
Chivadze refused to comment on the matter that is still before the court.
