Whilst the rest of South Africa engaged in an interesting debate as to which actress should play the role of Brenda Fassie, her close friend and the man behind most of her hits - Chicco Twala is unimpressed with the entire project and vows to put a halt on the planned biopic until he gives it the go ahead.
Speaking to City Press, the music producer and songwriter explained that he has all the rights to the songs he produced for Brenda Fassie and plans on taking legal action against any plans made to get the biopic off the ground.
"Besides my company having the rights, I have never been consulted by anyone. I feel disrespected and undermined, especially being the one who has written and produced almost 75%of the late singer's songs. Without the music I wrote and produced for Brenda, there will be no movie. This movie is not going to happen." he told City Press.
The publication, later on, got a hold of a legal letter drafted by Chicco's attorney which states that the music producer holds a majority stake in Brenda Fassies's Estate & music.
“In terms of the said agreements, Twala was granted commercial exploitation rights on the feature film of Brenda Fassie. Twala respectively holds 90% of Fassie records and [has an] 82% shareholding in Estate Late Brenda Fassie, with Bongani Fassie and Estate Late Brenda Fassie holding 10% and 18%, respectively,” reads the letter.
UK-based company Showbizbee, in partnership with Legaci Nova Entertainment are the two parties involved in planning the production of the biopic and have already received thousands of applications from hopefuls interested in being a part of the Brenda Fassie movie.
Will Chicco Twala stop Showbizbee and Legaci Nova in their tracks? We'll just have to wait and see.
Main image credit: news24.com by Sally Shorkerd