ONE of the biggest music events on the calendar, Afrikaans is Groot (AIG), will for the first time since its establishment four years ago be staged without singer Theuns Jordaan.
The musician, who was one of the founding members of AIG, told the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, that he was among the headline artists at the show, due to take place over a number of days in November in Pretoria.
According to him, as founding member there was no question that he would again take part this year. But the organisers and members of the event gave him the boot, during a dispute over his contract.
Jordaan turned to the court for an urgent order to have the decision to remove him from the show overturned. The artist with the deep voice, however, lost his application.
He told the court that as a founding member, he was automatically entitled to take part in the event and that he did not need any contractual agreement.
Jordaan reluctantly signed the contract, but made it clear that it was subject to certain conditions. Nothing came of these conditions, which resulted in AIG notifying him earlier this month that he was no longer part of the event.
Their argument was that as he only signed the contract subject to certain conditions and nothing ever came of these, there was thus no deal in place. Judge Corrie van der Westhuizen agreed with the organisers on this.
Jordaan said in court papers that over the past four years he shared in the profits of the show, and only Steve Hofmeyr and Juanita du Plessis were on the same share level as him. He said there was no question in his mind that due to his high esteem and being a founding member of the show, he was once again committed in taking part. Jordaan was thus surprised when the respondent handed him a contract to sign.
He stalled signing the agreement and was told that if he did not sign immediately, he would not participate this year. He eventually signed on condition that the organisers made a full disclosure to him regarding CD and DVD sales of previous shows and how the profits were calculated.
The second condition was that a meeting had to be held between the various stakeholders to talk about certain issues.
The AIG company agreed to comply with the demand regarding the CD and DVD sales, but Jordaan never made use of this offer. The second condition was also not met, as two of the new AIG directors weren't prepared to attend the meeting.
The organisers argued that as these conditions were not met, there was no contract, thus no performance for Jordaan. The judge didn't agree with Jordaan that no contractual agreement was required.
He said it was clear that participation in the concert was secured by contract, as Jordaan was in previous years, excluding last year, required to sign a contract.
“He has no automatic right to participate... He has not proven that as a founding artist, his participation in AIG concerts is guaranteed,” the judge said.
Jordaan declined to comment afterwards.
Pretoria News