Ukhozi FM DJ served summons by Arts and Culture Department

THE Department of Arts and Culture is in the process of recouping R421 000 out of the R4 million paid to a popular Ukhozi FM DJ after it had bungled payment to fund his initiative in 2017.

Sipho Mbatha, known as DJ Sgqemeza, received more than R400 000 in funding by the department for his City to City Motivation Tour project.

However, during the payment process the department said its employee had erroneously paid R4m instead of R421 000 into Sgqemeza's business bank account.

Yesterday, drama unfolded at the SABC studios when the Ukhozi FM DJ was served with a summons.

The Vukukhanye Africa Breakfast Show host was awarded the funding for his project, which took place.

Efforts by the department’s lawyers to serve him with a summons have been unsuccessful on many occasions since March last year.

Yesterday the department’s lawyer, together with the sheriff of the court, stormed into the SABC studios and were eventually able to serve him with summons as soon as he came out of the studio at the end of his shift.

The security guards apparently tried to block the entrance for the sheriff to gain entry to serve him, but he forced his way in to get to Sgqemeza.

“While the commotion was in progress, the management intervened and he was eventually served, after which he signed the court papers,” said a source.

Arts and Culture head of department Ntokozo Chonco confirmed that the DJ owed a balance of R421 000 and that he had been evading paying back the money since 2017.

He said the department realised the error, and informed Sgqemeza about it.

However, at the time he only returned R3m of the R4m that was inadvertently paid into his account.

Chonco blamed Sgqemeza for using money “he knew very well that he was not entitled to”.

“We requested for him to pay back the money. The responsible thing he should have done was to return the extra money as soon as it was paid, because he knew how much funding he was supposed to get from the department.

“It is criminal to use money that you don’t know how it landed to your account in the first place,” he said.

Chonco said the department took disciplinary action against the employee responsible for the payment error.

“The employee had pushed the wrong button when making the payment. He was given a warning. The department came to the conclusion that it was a human error,” Chonco said.

He said the DJ paid R3m back immediately when made aware of the error.

According to Chonco, Sgqemeza then entered into an agreement on how he was going to pay about R600 000 he still owed the department.

“He, however, did not honour that agreement. Our legal team made many efforts to serve him with the summons since March last year. We were told that he was working from home. Efforts to serve him at his residence also failed, hence today we decided to serve him at his workplace. This was not done to embarrass him but as means of recovering the money,” he said.

Chonco confirmed that Sgqemeza was expected to appear in the Durban High Court soon.

When contacted for comment, Sgqemeza denied being served the summons. He also denied that the department had erroneously paid R4m instead of a R400 000, and that he owed the department R421 000.

“That's news to me,” he said.