Artists still want COSBOTS board out
Dumisani Ncube | Wednesday February 1, 2017 17:29
COSBOTS board members recently admitted to the press that their term is indeed over and are looking forward to handing over to new members soon. The board, which includes Solomom B. Monyame, Nkgopolang Tlhomelang, Kopano Mantswe, Prince Monna, and Barolong Seboni, have not set a specific date for the transition and they neither gave a reason why.
In an interview with Showbiz, the representative of the concerned artists, Alfredo Mos said it is not the first time the board members have exceeded their term. “We don’t understand how time could have caught up with these people, they should have been prepared. As a leader you should have a proper calendar which include the dates of the AGM and the elections,” he said.
He said since their lawyer served COSBOTS with papers, they are still waiting for the response before taking appropriate action. “We stand by our decision and they should usher in new members because their term is over,” he said.
While COSBOTS chairperson, Monyame has defended the board’s decisions like purchasing a motor vehicle for the CEO and building for the company, Alfredo Mos on the other hand said they should have been consulted as members.
Monyame told the press recently that the transactions was authorised through a resolution of the board that Alfredo Mos argues it should not impose decisions on them without consultation.
“The reason why we grouped ourselves as artists is because we share the same concerns and we are not happy about the way things are run at COSBOTS,” Alfredo Mos added. He said they were fed up with mismanagement and abuse of funds. Alfredo Mos said, as artists they do not buy the excuse from COSBOTS that biggest user being the Department of Broadcasting (DBS) have not paid royalties. “Payment was made before and the money doesn’t add up, we only have 1,200 members but some artists get as low as P50 worth of royalties, where does the rest of the money go?” he questioned.
Last year COSBOTS legal services officer Pearl Mahlala authored a document called legal opinion in which she accused COSBOTS of giving the public, board and stakeholders wrong information regarding what has been collected and distributed.
However, in a recent document compiled by an independent consultant engaged by COSBOTS, the findings conclude that the information provided to members at the distribution workshops and to the public through the media is accurate. While Monyame told the media that the process was fair and transparent, Alfredo Mos said as artists they do not trust the consultant because the same people who were being investigated engaged them. Alfredo Mos said COSBOTS is not monitoring anything and as members they always get payments vouchers instead of statements. “Their voucher doesn’t tell us where the money came from so it is easy for our money to be taken elsewhere,” he highlighted. He said if board members are working on voluntary basis like they say, why couldn’t they leave office when their term is over.
Other artists expressed their displeasure about COSBOTS board on social media. “On behalf of the Movement and Struggle that is going on about the illegally placed Cosbots Board; its maladministration and mismanagement of office; enough is enough. We thought it was a great initiative to help ensure that Batswana artists and musicians fully benefit from their works; just to find out that ga rea bolo go jelwa madi ke batho re ba tlhophile. It is so unprofessional how some of them still running yet are expired board members carry home whooping chunks of thousands as their salary/month while Badiragatsi get peanuts of Royalties pay-outs every six months,” read gospel artist Kabelo Eric’s post on Facebook.
Eric Ramco also posted on Facebook alleging that he has evidence that things are very bad at COSBOTS. In the post he indicated he would present that evidence on the same platform when the time is right. “We have to demand a full audit of the usage of our works and tally that against what COSBOTS has been paying u,” read the Facebook post.