No more SAMAs for Ncandweni group

MBABANE – Ncandweni Christ Ambassadors (NCA) will no longer associate itself with the South African Music Awards (SAMAs).

This was revealed by the local gospel group’s PRO Nkosingiphile Mbhamali when commenting on an article published by South African newspaper Sunday Sun.
The article was about the group’s lead singer Timothy Myeni being absent from the recently held SAMAs. The newspaper reported that Myeni’s absentia from the ceremony was due to the uproar caused by his statement in which he suggested that HIV positive people be branded on the buttocks.

This did not go down well with NAPWA, the National Association of people living with HIV and Aids which alleged that the statement was an insult to people living with Aids.
The group is said to have sent a letter to the organisers of the SAMAs informing them that they intended to show their anger against Myeni and his group if they showed up at the event or even performed there. Part of the letter read: “There are many NAPWA members and supporters that are going to attend the SAMAs ceremony and they might react in a manner that might create chaos should Mr Myeni and his group perform or even be present.” 

 
Commenting on Myeni’s absentia from the event, Mbhamali said: “This letter was not the reason that Myeni did not go to the SAMAs and we do not even know about such a letter because we did not get anything of that sort from the event organisers.”

He added: “There are two reasons why Myeni or anybody from the NCA did not attend the ceremony. Firstly, we were not among the nominees because the album ‘Izethembiso Zenkosi’ was released in November whilst at the SAMAs  consider materials released from March (e.g March 2009 – March 2010) so it was not eligible. The second and main reason however, is that the group has since decided not to be part of any SAMAs until the event is made open to musicians from other countries,” explained Mbhamali.

He said this was because when NCA won the SAMAs in 2008, a lot of South African groups questioned why the group was even considered because it was a Swazi group yet SAMAs were meant for South African artists.
He said the group therefore concluded that because it was Swazi, it would no longer be part of the SAMAs so as to avoid finding itself in an uncompromising position with South African musicians.   
This was also confirmed by the group’s leader and lead singer, Timothy Myeni.        

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