Another show has cancelled Kelly Khumalo from performing at their shows. The Maseru Jazz Festival management has announced in a statement that they have put the singer “on hold.”
“As Maseru Park we’re here to inform you that we have seen comments about one of our guest performers which came to [our] attention… we need to inform our public and society that we are putting Kelly Khumalo on hold,” read the short statement on Wednesday.
“In the interest of our jazz festival, we have taken the decision to relieve Kelly Khumalo of the obligation to perform at our festival and we acknowledge that she is not guilty until proven so,” the statement concluded.
The festival is scheduled to take place on 24th September 2023 at the Maseru Park, Mafikeng.
This comes after The Tribute to Women concert removed Kelly from its line-up earlier this week.
“In the interest of safeguarding our festival, management has taken the decision to relieve Ms. Khumalo of her obligations to perform at our festival this year to afford her and her team the time they require to deal with the issues emanating from the current court proceedings,” the Tribute to Women statement read.
Speaking to IOL Entertainment, Khumalo’s manager Kgothatso Tsotetsi said, “The promoter behind the Tribute to Woman concert is Joe Chakela who happens to work for Sheer music, the publishing company Kelly and Universal Music Publishing have just won a legal battle against.
“They tried to hang on to Kelly besides the fact that her contract with them had expired and she had no intentions of renewing and this is their way of getting back at her,” Tsotetsi explained.
“He could have just said he’s no longer interested in proceeding with the booking instead of the whole smear campaign hoping to use my artist to sell tickets,” he added.
Kelly is currently linked to one of the five accused in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial. The late Meyiwa and the singer were in a relationship when he was murdered and they share a child together.
Main Image: Kelly Khumalo| Instagram
