Celeb Twitter Round-Up: Twitter Reacts to Yvonne Chaka Chaka/Chicco Twala War

The South African music industry is a prickly landscape to navigate, so much so taking one step can be enough to draw blood. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop local music legend, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, from revealing a major thorn in her side that’s been giving her grief for nearly four decades.

In a recent interview with “Newzroom Afrika”, Chaka Chaka claimed that singer-music producer, Sello “Chicco” Twala – who co-wrote her 1987 hit song, “Umqombothi”, with Attie van Wyk – failed to credit her. As a result, she never received any royalties for her contribution to the song.

“‘Umqombothi’ was written by Chicco, but I added some elements to it,” the 59-year-old songstress explained. “I added that ‘Nawu! Nawu! Madoda’ and ‘Everybody’ parts. I have never received a cent from that project.

“They didn’t credit me, and back then, I was young and clueless about the music industry. This is the first time I’m speaking out about this.”

In response to Chaka Chaka’s allegations, Twala had this to say:

“Yvonne earned millions out of live concerts, and the whole of Africa knows that, if not the whole world. Me and Attie, as the writers of the song, didn’t even make half a quarter of the money she made from that song. Performers make almost 90% of any hit that a songwriter makes.”

So, who’s telling the truth and who’s telling lies here?

As far as Twitter/X is concerned, some folks just didn’t care (while also showcasing their youthful ignorance as they threw shade at Chaka Chaka):

It’s probably worth a heck of a lot more than your Internet connection, dear friends, if your Google research wrongly told you that the song was released in 1990 instead of ‘87!

Meanwhile, others sided with the Princess of Africa and took shots at Twala:

The rest just wanted to know where the truth starts and ends, while also lamenting the fact that it would be difficult to prove whether or not one of them was getting royalties from the song after all this time:

Goodness knows if this Chaka Chaka/Twala situation will ever get resolved or if it’ll persist. Whatever happens, Twitter/X always proves that it’ll remain entertainingly petty and pettily entertaining ‘til the end of time. Nawu! Nawu!

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