Royalties saga | Ex-Lesedi FM’s Chomane Chomane agrees to clear up ‘unholy war’ with gospel singer

A scandalous fraud allegations underpinned to the former Lesedi FM radio personality Chomane Chomane over bewildering royalties, will now be buried to the ground, as the radio legend has agreed to relinquish needle royalties.

Chomane, the once beloved radio host better known for his famous show and now-defunct Ha Reye Morning Breakfast, embroiled in a depraved war with the veteran musician, William Mthethwa over unpaid royalties.

Last year, Mthethwa revealed how Lesedi FM’s top presenters both Chomane and the legendary gospel singer Thuso Motaung robbed him for years by collecting royalties from the SA Music Rights Organisation (Samro) without his consent.

Mthethwa alleged that, Lesedi FM’s legendary radio hosts have been collecting payments from Samro for more than 25-30 years.

“Both Chomane and Motaung collected royalties from Samro without being involved in the production of the tunes, that’s unprofessional,” he said about the latter in 2021.

He further added that following the agony, he was left with no choice but to open a case of fraud with the Hawks last year in March.

However, in bid to clear his name from the ‘bribery scheme’, Chomane stood out to mend legal disputes with Mthethwa after he pledged solely to return the royalties he had received over the past 30 years.

In a statement issued by Samro, the copyright asset management society confirmed that the prominent ex-radio Dj agreed to put the matter to rest.

“The progress made today is that Chomane Chomane has confessed to the status quo to relinquish the rights back to William Mthethwa, and agreed to pay back all monies he received,” statement read.

Although Chomane has vowed to settle the disputes, Magulong a Matala‘s Thuso Motaung is yet to give his word if he’s willing to cooperate with Mthethwa’s demands.