Pulane Maphari has spoken out about the events that led to her being stripped off her South African Music Award for best contemporary faith music album.
Earlier this week, the Recording Industry of South Africa (RiSA) announced that Maphari's win had been withdrawn, just a month after she received the award.
“It has come to the attention of the office that Maphari repackaged, renamed and paraded an album she released in 2020 as a new body of work and submitted it for 2021 consideration with the same track listing,” RiSA said.
Maphari said she received an email from SAMA28 advising her that she had been “automatically disqualified”.
“No prior discussions or meetings have taken place regarding the issue. I hereby confirm that we are yet to receive more information and details regarding this matter,” said Maphari.
Responding to the allegations, Maphari said “no duplication or repacking of projects or albums have taken place”.
“I released a studio album in September 2020 titled ‘Restorative Breath of Life’ and continued to produce a live album with new material that was used to advertise the live recording titled ‘Sacrificial Worship’,” said Maphari.
Meanwhile, newly crowned winner Kingdmusic, who received the second-highest score in the category, took to social media to express his gratitude, but also said he felt “robbed of the acceptance moment”.
He wrote: “It’s confirmed. I won ‘Best Contemporary Faith Music Album’ award at the 28th South African Music Awards. 🙌🏾.
“This is a huge milestone because I know there are kids in our country who want to express their creativity in the way they package gospel music.
“I pray and hope that this win encourages them to keep going because there’s an audience out there waiting to listen to what God has deposited in their hearts.”