DJ Qness Addresses Claims That He Stole The Amapiano Awards Concept. Amapiano Awards became a huge topic recently following the official announcement from the South Africa Amapiano Music Awards (SAAPA) on Monday, 19 July.
The organisation found itself in hot water after claims by another organisation that the concept was stolen. Lawyer Kevin Smith, acting on behalf of nonprofit company Amapiano Awards, has issued Saapa organisers, Amapiano Governing Body, with a cease and desist letter.
Saapa head of communications Qness Ndlovu confirmed that he has received the cease and desist letter. He said his legal team had demanded more proof from Omar that the concept belongs to her. “They failed to send any proof of their claims up until now. Instead they went and posted on social media and invited the press while ignoring their legal obligations to account for their claims. Our lawyers are therefore busy with the matter and have sent a letter instructing them to take down their defamatory claims, failure to which they will face a lawsuit and be liable to pay damages,” Ndlovu said.
According to Ndlovu, Amapiano Governing Body was launched in 2016. Ndlovu called Omar “an opportunist” and accused her of cultural appropriation. “So we have an Indian lady claiming that she ‘owns’ Amapiano. I am not sure what she means when she says she owns Amapiano. Does she own Amapiano the genre? Or does she own awards? “This lady is trying to be an opportunist by profiting off young black creatives and it is wrong… If this is not the highest level of cultural appropriation then I don’t know what is.“We will not allow anyone to intimidate the awards show or its nominees to push a personal agenda. The awards are going on as planned and we now have a date for the live show which we will be announcing very soon.”
