Celine promoter sued for R16m
2008-03-11 09:38
Cape Town - The South African promoter of the Celine Dion and Josh Groban concerts, Duncan Heafield of Kusasa Entertainment, has been sued for about R16m, Die Burger reported on Tuesday.
Heafield was responsible for the recent chaos at the Celine Dion concerts, as well as the postponement of Josh Groban's nationwide concerts that would have taken place during March.
A statement on Josh Groban's official website reads: "Groban's management has been trying to coordinate the tour for
weeks, but due to the failure of the tour promoter, Duncan Heafield of
Kusasa (PTY) LTD, to perform his obligations with regard to the tour, the
tour dates have to be pushed back."
Heafield said he could not give the Groban management the 100% assurance that there would not be logistic problems, especially traffic problems, at the Vergelegen Estate similar to those during the Celine Dion concerts.
Heafield is being sued by another South African music promoter, Hazel Feldman, who obtained a court order from the Pretoria High Court two weeks ago.
Damage to SA music industry
"It's situations like these that damage the South African music industry," Feldman told Die Burger.
"Initially I worked with Duncan on the Celine concerts, but for several reasons decided not to continue.
"He promised to compensate me for costs incurred, but I had to go to court to get the money," she said.
According to an article on the website of Pollstar, the concert trade publication, several South Africans had to go to court to get money from Heafield and a number of them refused to work with him.
This included companies renting limousines, catering companies and companies providing body guards.
According to Colleen Louw, station manager of 94.5 Kfm, a media partner of the Groban concerts, the station was relieved about the postponement as it would provide time for better planning.
Paybacks will be available from Friday March 14 at the different ticket selling points.
Earlier it was reported that traffic jams at one of Celine Dion's concerts at Vergelegen Estate prevented concert-goers from arriving on time and as a result they missed more than half of the concert.