While Joyous Celebration celebrates 30 years in the music scene, the directors of the iconic gospel group spew allegations at each other.
After being accused of financial mismanagement by his two partners, Joyous Celebration co-director Lindelani Mkhize accused Jabu Hlongwane of diverting funds to personal accounts, blocking Lindelani from accessing Joyous Celebration Foundation’s banking transactions, and being “secretive” about the organisation’s finances.
He also claims Jabu and Mthunzi Namba allegedly received hundreds of thousands of rand in performance fees for events at which they did not perform.
The allegations are part of an alternative dispute resolution application before the Companies Tribunal.
Lindelani also claims that his two co-directors have, through their attorneys, since March 2022, expressed their intention to relinquish their interests as members of the corporation.
“The conduct of Mr Hlongwane and Mr Namba has been consistent with their previously expressed intention to exit Joyous Celebration in that they have not rendered stage performance services since then. This notwithstanding, Mr Hlongwane has continued to exercise control over the group’s bank account pursuant to the bank mandate signed on September 20 2016,” Lindelani said.
Sunday Times exclusively caught up with Jabu Mthunzi to get his view on the matter and the state of the relationship between him and Lindelani.
Jabu maintains they are still in good standing, and “we all own Joyous at this stage”.
“Joyous is evolving to the next level, and we are handling this the legal way to see what the outcome will be,” he told the Sunday Times.
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