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Melissa Mpofu Showbiz Reporter
SOUTH African promoters of the just ended Toni Braxton/Babyface African tour regret bringing the party to Zimbabwe as they incurred serious losses from the Harare concert.

To get the two Grammy multi-award winning artistes who are riding on the success of their 2013 Love, Marriage and Divorce album to perform in Zimbabwe, Canoc Live – South African promoters of the show had to part with nothing less than $300,000, only to get less than $50,000 from ticket sales. Part of the $50,000 was used to settle a $69,000 five-night, 5 star Meikles hotel bill for Braxton, Babyface and their entourage which comprised about 30 people.

Speaking from his South Africa base yesterday, Canoc Live founder and managing director – Pleasure Letsaolo said the Zimbabwe show was a risky move as there were serious loopholes in its organisation which saw them lose money unnecessarily.

“I now understand why Zimbabwe has limited international concerts. It’s just a headache trying to do business there. The Zim promoter, Bernie Bizmark was unprofessional. She let us down as the tickets which are said to have been sold are not adding up with the money presented to us,” a distraught Letsaolo said.

He said about 2,000 people are said to have attended the Harare concert held at Borrowdale Racecourse on August 28. Two hundred of them were VVIP ticket holders who paid $150 to secure seats. The rest paid between $40 and $100 while some, like any other show, were probably smuggled in by corrupt security details.

Organisers had set VVIP tables for 400 people. In South Africa, four concerts were held with the Durban concert attracting the least revellers at 11,000. Johannesburg is said to have attracted 16,000 patrons.

To host the Harare concert, the South African promoters had to partner with a local promoter, Bernie Bizmark of BB Promotions in order to use her licence. Unknown to them, this was the beginning of their problems as she seems to have taken them for a ride. Bizmark, whose name was registered as the organiser of the Harare show, reportedly owes the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) $15,000 in royalties which were waived by the acting minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Walter Mzembi for the smooth flow of the show.

“A certain promoter asked me if she could pay up the royalties for bringing in [Toni] Braxton and Babyface after the show, and I had to liaise with NACZ on the issue.

“The promoter fled with money amounting to $15,000 that was supposed to be paid to NACZ and is still on the run,” Mzembi was quoted saying last weekend.

South African promoters, however, claim they gave Bizmark money to pay NACZ way before the show was held.

“I gave Bernie money to pay the National Arts. She told us money was needed and we gave her way before the show was held. Now surprisingly, she sent me an email last night telling me more money was needed to pay for many other pending things which I don’t understand.

“I asked her what all the money we’d been paying all along was for and she told me most of it was deposit. Which show can be allowed to go on if only deposits have been paid?”

To bring in an international artiste to Zimbabwe, various procedures have to be followed systematically. A promoter has to first have a licence before presenting a budget including artistes’ performance fee, air tickets, accommodation, venue and production costs of their show to Zimra and NACZ for them to authorise it. Once authorised, police clearance of the artistes will be required. In later stages, promoters are required to submit proof of artistes payments to both bodies from which Zimra will tax them about 27,5 percent of the artistes payment as a Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax. The NACZ also claims 15 percent of the gate takings/tickets calculated at 5 percent of 75 percent of the venue’s capacity. Immigration charges a flat fee of $500 while the censorship board charges $50 per hour.

Besides the pending $15,000 which Letsaolo said they had since launched an investigation into, show organisers were apparently duped by local fraudsters who charged them $5,000 to clear their show as well as another $15,000 to pay security details.

“All the costs were inflated as I was told I owed security $15,000 only to find out I owe them nothing more than $2,000 after almost being held hostage as I was being forced to pay.

“As if that wasn’t enough, some guys told us we weren’t allowed to host two international shows in a week so we’d to pay $5,000 for them to make sure our show goes ahead as the Davido people were cleared before us. We later discovered fraudulent documents had been presented to us,” Letsaolo said.

Meikles hotel was not spared as Letsaolo said their $70,000 bill was outrageous, forcing them to move part of the entourage to Rainbow Towers.

“I had to cancel some of the bookings at Meikles and moved people to Rainbow Towers which was way cheaper as $70,000 was just too much for 30 people who stayed for less than a week.”

The Canoc Live boss said they parted with between R300,000 to R400,000 for the artistes week-long accommodation in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

He said though they mostly used local equipment for the show, bringing in other technical equipment which was not available locally had also been a stress, especially at the Beitbridge border.

As a result, Letsaolo, who has successfully hosted American artistes, Chris Brown, Maxwell, Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, Rick Ross, DJ Premier, Tyga, and Kenny G, among many others in South Africa, has vowed not to host another concert in Zimbabwe.

They are also regrouping before hosting other acts in South Africa.