Botswana Gospel lovers who had already bought tickets woke up to the sad news that the much –anticipated Gospel Show billed for the Stanbic Molapo Piazza this week has been called off.
The show organisers, Prophet Chris Talley today announced that the show that was billed for this Friday evening will now be staged next year in February. The show was headlined by South African gospel icon Winnie Mashaba and was also to feature local artists, among them Botswana’s award-winning gospel singer Kabelo Eric.
Chris Talley leads a church called Restoration Temple in Gaborone, and earlier this week he was in the headlines having reportedly had a fall out with Kabelo Eric. Local newspaper The Midweek Sun yesterday ran a front page story revealing that Talley recently sent a message clip to Eric where he rained insults on the local artist.
Eric confirmed to Pula24 that he had decided to withdraw from the show because of failure by organisers to meet contractual obligations. He said even the band that was engaged to back them had decided to pull out, leaving preparations for the show in disarray.
Eric’s withdrawal then seems to have triggered a war of words between the two. The messahge clip, which was later shared and heard via social media, specifically WHATSAPP, contained information that showed that the two had severed relations. According to the report in The Midweek Sun, the two signed a contract on November 23, 2016, that Eric would be performing on December 16 for 45 minutes at a cost of P10 000, but that no deposit of P5000 had been paid as per agreement.
Early today, Talley was on Duma FM announcing that the show had been cancelled for logistical and weather considerations. He also said the show will return bigger next year.
NO SHOW: Winnie Mashaba will no longer be coming to Botswana this Friday