Palesa Palesa Phinda, owner of Midnight Club Oasis, is demanding that Lekompo artist Toolkit refund the R4000 he was paid for a booking that he failed to honour.
Phinda alleges that Toolkit accepted the payment but did not perform at the Wepener-based club during the Lekompo Fest scheduled for 11 October.
According to bank documents seen by Free State World, two payments of R2000 each were made on 8 October and 11 October.
She expressed her disappointment, stating that Toolkit’s actions could damage her business since patrons may lose trust in the club if artists fail to show up for bookings.
“This affects us a lot; we pay to book, but when it’s time to get a refund, we get the runaround. I just want Toolkit to refund my money. I no longer trust him, but I want my R4000,” Palesa said.
Sir Zito, a resident DJ at Midnight Oasis who facilitated the booking with Toolkit, mentioned that initially, Toolkit wanted R10 000 for the performance, but after negotiating due to their friendship, he agreed to take the R4000.
On the day of the event, Sir Zito was unavailable because he was in Zastron, and Toolkit was scheduled to perform at midnight.
He stated, “My challenge was that I did not allocate him accommodation. When I explained this, he said accommodation would delay him because a flat tyre had set him back.”
Zito said he reached out to Toolkit for a refund, but Toolkit claimed he had spent the money on petrol and promised to refund once he secured another booking.
Speaking to Free State World, Toolkit confirmed the booking and explained that despite initially charging R9,000, he agreed to the lower fee out of friendship. He stated he had asked about accommodation, which Sir Zito assured was arranged, and Toolkit went on to share the event on his socials.
However, when he attempted to travel to the event, he faced issues, including a tyre problem.
“When I refilled my car with petrol and called him (Sir Zito) to confirm the number of dancers coming, he told me he was at another gig,” Toolkit explained.
He mentioned that the drive was five hours from where he was driving to Wepener, and could not drive there and return as he had another gig on Sunday he needed to be ready for.
According to Toolkit, Sir Zito alleged that accommodation was a challenge, and the club owner (Palesa) was not at the venue, and that’s when Toolkit told Zito that he could not come there as he was worried about his car tyre and was worried about what would happen to the tyre on his way back home.
“I asked Zito to postpone the gig because the was no accommodation and to give me another date because the money they paid me, I had already paid dancers and I had no money. I was doing the gig because of my friendship with Zito. Actually, I was not going to come for R4000.” Toolkit stated.
According to Toolkit, after being made aware by Zito that the club owner wanted her money back, he asked to be given time to get a booking so that he could refund the money.
He claimed he hasn’t had funds recently, as he relies on gigs for income. Toolkit alleged that Palesa threatened him regarding the payment, a claim that Palesa has denied.
He reassured that he intends to refund the payment once he secures another booking.
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