South Africa Amapiano kingpins, Scorpion Kings evaded arrest in Bulawayo on Monday after a warrant of arrest had been issued over their non-appearance at the Victoria Falls Carnival.
The celebrated duo of Petrus Kabelo Motha (Kabza De Small) and Themba Sonnyboy Sekowe (Dj Maphorisa) together with songstress, Sha Sha, were billed to perform at the carnival in April this year but failed to turn up.
The organisers of the show who said they had incurred losses amounting to R414 147.00 demanded that the artists pay back the full booking fee, flights, and accommodation fees and apologise to fans for the incident.
However, the trio through Lawk Communications only committed themselves to refund only R230 000.
While the dispute was still to be finalised, the Scorpion Kings returned to Zimbabwe on Sunday and performed at the Boundary in Bulawayo later that day.
However, a court order dated 17 September, a day before they jetted into the country, had been issued by the Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Christopher Banda ordering that the celebrated music producers be arrested and “be safely kept until they are served with the summons against them by the High Court in Bulawayo for a claim in the sum of US$18 395.82”.
The alternative was that they provided security of the same amount to the Sheriff of the High Court.
The duo was initially meant to fly out of the country on Monday morning but were forced to reschedule their flight after police officers and the deputy Sheriff’s officers swooped in on them at the Holiday Inn.
They were rescued by the Bulawayo-based promoters, who roped in their lawyer, Zibusiso Ncube of Ncube and Partners to intervene in the matter.
They successfully raised the security and deposited it at the Sheriff of the High Court securing their passage back home.
Speaking to the media, Ncube confirmed that the duo had successfully paid the security fee and the matter will now proceed through the normal court process.
“There was an order of the court which attaches the persons of the two artists for some alleged claim from their previous appearance in Victoria Falls, there is a monetary dispute there. They are from outside the jurisdiction of this court and ordinarily, this court would not have the authority to deal with the matter,” said Ncube.
He added that since the duo did not have any movable property in the country the court had to arrest them and to avoid being arrested the duo were forced to pay the security fee.
After the drama had subsided, the duo who were in the company of their bookings manager Thuli Keupilwe, and their South African-based legal representative Katlego Malatji slipped out of the hotel just after 3 pm to Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport to catch their flight home.
