BY PHUMZILE NDLOVU
MBABANE – It is no secret that our local stables secure international artists, especially from South Africa, as crowd-pullers for their events.
Recent international artists who were in the country are C-Blak, Mahwoo, Young Stunna, and the South African Rise FM DJs, all of whom came for different events that were a success.
Local entertainment stables have been advised to work with relevant associations to fast-track getting work permits for international artists coming into the country to perform.
In an exclusive interview with the Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Trade, Manqoba Khumalo, on Thursday, he advised local stables to work with the newly launched Copyright Association for their services where they can assist them. He also suggested that entertainment stables submit their work permit proposals to the Eswatini Investment Promotions Authority.
This publication did an investigation into how one obtains a work permit for international artists and DJs to perform in the country. It was reliably gathered that for one to secure a work permit for artists or DJs, one needs to approach the Ministry of Home Affairs with the contract drawn up between artists and the stable, which will also state which artist they wish to bring into the country to perform.
Each artist coming into the country to perform requires a work permit, even for a day. Usually a work permit minimum is for 30 days, but for artists, it is shorter as most come to perform for a certain event, which doesn’t necessarily mean less money.
It has also been reliably gathered that even the technical teams, such as sound engineers, backup singers, drummers, and guitarists, all need work permits to come into the country.
One can also engage the office of Arts and Culture to ask that they write a letter to Home Affairs to exempt the full payment of the work permit, which is E500 per artist. This does not mean a stable won’t pay the fee, but they can pay a certain percentage when they have successfully involved the office of Arts and Culture.
When reached for comment, Epic Gig Director Tammy ‘Toxic’ Dlamini shared that, as a stable, they work via the Ministry of Home Affairs to secure work permits for artists. “We at Epic Gig bring out at a lot of artists for the Epic Gig Festival, and they all need work permits, and this includes the technical staff as well which is not cheap.”
The Association of Christian Artists Eswatini (ACEASWA) PRRO Nhlanhla Mathunjwa also encouraged local entertainment stables to work with the Ministry of Home Affairs. “We would like to thank the Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Trade, Manqoba Khumalo, for raising the work permit issue. Entertainment stables need to comply with the law and work with the government to secure work permits for international artists coming into the country to perform their services,” said the PRO.
Mathunjwa also highlighted that perhaps it was also time for the newcomers in the industry to be equipped with the knowledge to know where to go to get the information needed to book international artists, as they don’t know where to go. The PRO also shared with this publication that stables need to be educated on such things, even though it would have been easier if the Arts and Culture Office took the lead to make it easier for stables to secure work permits for international artists to avoid them paying high fees to bring in international artists.
