MultiChoice logo. Picture: Supplied MultiChoice logo. Picture: Supplied
A David versus Goliath legal war is brewing between pay-per-view station MultiChoice and Connect.tv in one corner, against a budding TV writer who is suing them for R30million over the popular uTatakho concept.
Lungi Mabizela of Soweto has slapped the two TV giants with a lawsuit which is currently at the high court in Joburg.
His lawyer Lucky Mhlanga accused MultiChoice chief executive Nkateko Mabaso and Connect.tv, a production house owned by Basetsana Kumalo, of delaying the application he brought in March 2017 by demanding that amendments be done to it.
“We are currently busy with the second amendments to our application, and the defendants are still trying to determine their liability in the case. We have asked the court to intervene because the defendants have been delaying us from proceeding with the civil case and from making their plea,” Mhlanga said.
Mabizela is accusing Mabaso of colluding with Kumalo to “steal” his uTatakho reality-show concept.
Presented by Nimrod Nkosi, the popular uTatakho follows men and women on their journey to finding their biological fathers.
According to his proposal, Uphikiwe (which means “denied”) is of similar nature, but his follows mothers who want to prove the paternity of their children to their biological fathers who have left them without acknowledging their kids.
Candidates would be sourced from child maintenance offices and clinics, and fathers would have to undergo paternity tests sponsored by private laboratories.
“We will make a follow-up with the clients to see whether they made agreements with each other to co-parent the child as they make arrangements with the court,” the proposal states.
Mabizela, who has scripted several shows for Mzansi Magic and the SABC, such as Trigger Happy, Plastic Money and Jozi to Kapa, said the matter had ruined his relationship with the channel and he had since resorted to ghost writing.
In court papers seen by The Star, Mabizela, 37, claims that he had sold the idea he originally called Uphikiwe to his homeboy Mabaso in January 2014 via email. He said Mabaso acknowledged the email and promised to get back to him.
“After not hearing from him for months I was shocked when
I saw uTatakho on TV in July 2015.
I realised it was a spin-off of the show I had proposed to him. I started making enquiries with the station. He denied any acknowledgement of my original proposal,” Mabizela said.
In February 2016, he submitted a letter of demand to MultiChoice, requesting a R3.1m compensation. The amount included 30% profit from advertisements shown during the flighting of the show, which he said was R700000.
Further meetings held between his lawyer and legal advisers of both companies ended in a stalemate.
“In his own admission, Mabaso said he was prepared to get me on board as one of Mzansi Magic’s creatives. I could not accept the deal because he did not make the offer in writing,” Mabizela said.
In March 2017, Mabizela escalated the matter to court, where he upped his compensation request to R30m, citing quotes he had received from various service providers.
In their replying court papers, MultiChoice and Connect.tv said they could not plead because they needed more clarity on several issues that were raised in Mabizela’s application. These included how Uphikiwe and uTatakho were similar as alleged by the applicant and how he had determined his financial losses.
“There is no articulation of a cause of action, be it for example, in delict contract or misappropriation. There are also not material allegations which evidence a cause of action against the first defendant. For example, the only allegation that links the first defendant to the narrative set out in the particulars is that the proposal was sent to the first defendant’s employee,” read the papers from MultiChoice’s lawyers, Clyde and Co.
Connevt.tv lawyer Madidimalo Chauke questioned the rationale of his client being dragged into the matter in his court submission.
Two months ago, Mzansi Magic was rocked by another scandal in which up-and-coming scriptwriter Fikile Shabalala accused the channel of stealing her concept of Yobe, which she claims to have submitted two years ago as Sorry For My Crimes.
Yobe, a show that helps convicted criminals give their victims closure, debuted in April. The channel, however, denied Shabalala’s claims, saying the show’s concept was first proposed to them in 2014.
@lindilesifile