Sophia Chese and Brenda Phiri
Zimdancehall sensation Winky D is at loggerheads with promoter Luther Pazvakavambwa of Digital One Promotions, who is accusing the musician of fraud after he failed to perform in the United Kingdom despite getting paid for the tour.Winky D was supposed to have shared stage with Soul Jah Love, Tocky Vibes, Shinsoman and Trevor D among other artistes in London, Birmingham and Manchester from May 1 to 3.
Winky D, who allegedly received a whopping $7 000, which he had charged for the performance, failed to join other musicians for the tour.
In an interview with The Herald Entertainment, Pazvakavambwa said they paid Winky D $7 000 he charged in instalments, the first half having been paid in November last year and the other half a week before the tour.
“Winky charged us $7 000 for three shows and he wanted half the amount as deposit and that was paid last year in November. He demanded the other half when his work permit and visa were processed and that was paid a week before the show,” he said.
He said Winky D also wanted five air tickets for his band members to travel to the UK which he claimed he bought but the musician and his crew said they missed their initial flight.
“They wanted five air tickets to travel to the UK. I bought the tickets and they missed their flight. I bought another set of tickets and he refused to travel saying they could not travel separately.
“He was booked in a flight with other artistes on Kenyan Airways and his band was supposed to be in another flight but they did not honour our contract and did not travel,” he said.
Pazvakavambwa, who is threatening to take legal action, said he made a loss of $27 000 because Winky D and his band failed to turn up for the tour.
“The loss that I incurred is over $27 000 and that won’t go alone. I will take legal action. It is worse because they gave me names of people who were not on their band at first and the work permit agent found out that it was fake and did not issue the work permits. I had to pay again for another group that they had since the first group proved to be fake. They were not sincere and they also failed to travel for the tour after everything had been done,” he said.
Winky D manager Jonathan Banda admitted getting the money but could not give details.
“If they have issues they have to approach us not the Press. If they are saying we are defrauding them then they should approach the police and we are waiting,” he said.
“Although we got the money, I said he should approach the police and we take it from there.”
Meanwhile, away from the fraud accusations, Winky D asserted himself as a fine entertainer when he put up a sterling performance at the Castle Tankard Borrowdale Race Course on Friday.
The Ninja President, real name Wallace Chirumiko, performed shortly after fellow comrade Tocky Vibes got bombarded with missiles forcing him to end his act prematurely.
Winky D showed Tocky Vibes how to work around such situations.
First, while he spent double the time that Tocky Vibes took in setting up his band, not a single missile was thrown by the fans.
The seasoned artiste was strategic is his hour-long sound check he ensured that fans enjoyed some music as they worked on the machines.
There were sound glitches for the better part of his Winky D’s act, but he applied his vast experience in the trade to wins fans to his side.
Winky D would be quick to amplify the functioning instruments and played other songs that were not on his list as sound engineers rectified the matter.
This is contrary to the “Mhai” singer’s tactics that saw them working while there was dead silence.
Winky D also introduced the services of Conquering Family member Jah Child to spruce up his act.
The reception was positive and fans were on their feet despite the disaster that threatened to ruin his reputation.
Sadly, the same could not be said about Tocky Vibes.
He was not prepared for it.
“We did our sound check but the technical fault recurred several times. We tried to rectify it with the engineers but it was to no avail. Tocky was depressed by this and it affected his performance,” said his manager Elvis Bokosha.
Tocky Vibes tried every trick in the book to win the hearts of the fans that were baying for his blood, but nothing worked.
When all else had failed, the desperate singer resorted to giving fans free copies of his album.
“Mukuda kuti ndiende here? Horaiti, regai ndikupei zvinhu zvenyu ndisati ndaenda. (So you want me to leave? That’s ok, let me give you your gifts before I go),” he said
He took a bow after just 30 minutes and exited the stage in a huff.
