Piracy is rife on streets of Mbombela

MBOMBELA – Despite several raids to rid the streets of pirated music products in the CBD by the Film and Publication Board (FPB) in collaboration with South African Revenue Services (SARS) and SAPS, they are still rife.

Lately, there are several more illegal products of foreign origin, including the late global icon, Dr Nelson Mandela’s Mandela, the Living Legend, which is selling like hot cakes on the streets of the city.

Yet buyers have complained about the quality of the products.

One of the people who bought a DVD,
Mr Mduduzi Mawunye said,

“When I passed, I noticed that they were selling Mandela’s DVD, and I didn’t hesitate to buy one. I wanted to have something as a memory of him to show my children or grandchildren, but when I arrived home with the DVD, it was a disgrace.

The quality is not up to standard. It keeps on jamming, just like those Nigerian movies.

“Personally, I don’t have a problem as their prices are affordable compared with music stores, but they must give us quality because it seems it’s just daylight robbery. The Mandela DVD costs R40 and even when you negotiate, they can offer you a discount,” he said.

Speaking to Mpumalanga News, the provincial coordinator of Creative Workers Union, Mr Alpheus Nhlabathi said, “We highly condemn that act of selling pirated products on the streets.

“That is intellectual property of artists who struggle to put food on the table because of these people.
“It’s very sad that they are taking advantage of this, as Mandela was loved by many. Such things need to come to an end. We are working tirelessly to solve this problem as we’ve also tried several times to engage with government about such issues.

“It’s clear that we don’t have good law enforcement in our municipalities, like at the Nelspruit Plaza, the people are selling those DVDs right under the noise of security and they are not doing anything.

“The are police officers who are failing us as they take back the DVDs to those people who are selling them on the streets because they will give them money and business is back to normal.
“Artists also tried to go to the streets, Mzwakhe Mbuli established a campaign called Operation Dudula. Some of the artists ended up being arrested while they were fighting for their work and most of the people who are practising that are foreigners from our neighbouring countries,” he concluded.