HARARE - Dancehall artiste Sniper Storm, who refused to perform as a supporting act to South African kwaito group Big Nuz at the weekend, has ripped into the show’s promoter for breach of contract.

Sniper took to Facebook to vent out his anger and apologise to his fans for the no-show.

“Yesterday (Saturday) I was supposed to perform at the Big Nuz Show at the Kebab Centre in Harare, however, after struggling with the show’s promoter to honour our agreement, and not receiving my agreed fee, I couldn’t,” said the self-styled general.

“I apologise to all my disappointed fans/family/MaSoja. But we must start taking a stand on the bad treatment of Zimbabwean Artistes.

“Sadly this is becoming very common in Zimbabwe, when local artistes are treated as second rate. I am very angry at yet again being used to promote an event, with no return to my livelihood.”

Sniper said the recurrence of incidents in which Zimbabwean promoters are taking local artistes for a ride, had prompted him to go public with his gripe with the promoter who brought Big Nuz to Zimbabwe.

“I don’t normally complain in public, but enough is enough. Two weeks ago, the arts industry suffered another blow financially with the “Mi Casa” (No) Show.”

Sniper confirmed to the Daily News that the Facebook post was indeed his.

“One show being cancelled and not receiving payment can mean that an artiste misses out on other shows.

“For example, on Saturday I could have been elsewhere, entertaining my fans and earning at least something.

“The lost finances mean that my role as a bread winner is compromised.

“Some artistes live like destitutes, some even fail to meet their rent payments. It costs us a lot of money to produce albums and stage rehearsals.

“It is not cheap to be The General, or any other artiste for that matter.”

Sniper added that the most disappointing part is that the promoter paid Big Nuz the money they were entitled to and decided to forsake local artistes.

“We need artistes to unite against the new disease of being undervalued.We need the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe and the relevant ministry to toughen up promoter licences."

“They cannot keep using our names on posters to draw big crowds to line their pockets and then fail to pay us our honest wage for the honest job of entertaining our fans.

“They cannot keep building foreign acts at the expense of the local industry,” he said.