Is Babes justified for feeling robbed by Samas?

By Bongani Ndlovu

Babes Wodumo was at the weekend dealt a major blow as she walked away empty handed from the South African Music Awards (Samas) after being nominated four times.

She did not take it lightly and launched a verbal salvo, threatening to never attend an awards ceremony.

According to her, she deserved to win after a blistering 2016 where her song Wololo dominated most radio and TV stations in and out of South Africa.

Apart from that, she was among the most booked artistes in South Africa, something that saw her miss the biggest bash in Bulawayo – the Kalawa Homecoming Party.

However, she was in for the shock as South Africa Idols 2015 Top 10 finalist Amanda Black took two accolades.

In the Record of the Year category, she was in for another shocker as she lost to Nasty C for his Hell Naw, like she did during the Metro FM awards.

After the disappointment, Babes took to social media to express her dejection at not winning and accused Sama adjudicators of receiving bribes from the winning artistes.

“I was even nominated for the BET’s overseas but I don’t get even one award at home? There’s no such thing, please don’t play with us. Continue to buy your awards. Continue and feel free because we’re not going to go hungry, we’re getting booked.

“I’ll always be Babes and Mampintsha will always be Mampintsha and West Ink will always be West Ink. Thank you”.

But was her rant justified or was it a case of sour grapes?

In response to Babes’ outcry, Somizi, who was the host at the awards ceremony, made it clear to her that Wololo was not the only song that was getting heavy rotation last year.

Kwesta, whose music career spans over 10 years, only got his Sama recognition this year after years of entering and walking away empty handed. He bagged four awards.

However, people like Black Coffee who have suffered the same fate before, defended Babes saying it was clear that she had been robbed of her victory.

“Some categories need no votes. They should be based on data collected by the awards e.g #Newcomer, we all know the best was Babes Wodumo,”  tweeted Black Coffeee.

The late Brenda Fassie also felt aggrieved after she did not win a Sama and was pipped by Mandoza.

Mgarimbe’s Sista Betina was another hit that did not make the grade showing that popularity is not the only thing that judges look for.

In Zimbabwe, countless music awards have left many artistes bitter after not winning an accolade.

Urban Culxure Magazine’s Nigel Ndlovu expressed his disappointment with a barrage of expletives after his online publication did not win the Outstanding Online Publication at the National Art Merit Awards.

Junior Brown and Briss Mbada also denounced the Zim Hip Hop Awards results saying they were robbed after Cal _Vin won two awards ahead of them.

Established local musicians who refused to be named defended Babes saying she was the only one who knew why she felt she deserved to win.

“Such matters can only be understood by the person who feels they’ll have been cheated. People have different opinions but at the end of the day, it’s only the artiste who knows what they’ll have put in,”said an artiste who refused to be named.

Another however, said Babes needed to be patient.

“Things don’t happen overnight. Her time will come and when it does, she’ll start getting numerous awards that she won’t even be able to attend some of the award ceremonies. She just musn’t lose hope and continue producing good music. The Chronicle