Kamogelo Seekoei

Kamogelo Seekoei

Gospel diva Hlengiwe Mhlaba has pressed charges against a reputable clothing store after she discovered that it was selling fake CDs of her music.

Mhlaba and her manager are spewing poison at a Jet store in Durban for selling fake music.

Mhlaba, a popular gospel artists whose music is copied by fraudsters, bought a copy of a CD titled Tribute to Hlengiwe Mhlaba at the store.

Mhlaba has not released a CD with that title.

This discovery forced Mhlaba to press charges against the store and the case is now in the hands of her lawyers.

When Sowetan contacted her, Mhlaba declined to comment and directed all queries to her manager.

Her manager, Cynthia Mathenjwane, declined to reveal the details of the case because their lawyers were handling the matter.

Mathenjwane said, however, that the main problem was that Mhlaba's name was used to dupe the public.

"Everything about the CD is Hlengiwe, the face on the cover, the name. The only difference is the voices singing the songs."

Mathenjwane said there were other mainstream stores selling fake CDs but that they bought their copy from Jet.

Anti-piracy advocate Mzwakhe Mbuli said the gospel genre was mostly targeted by piracy syndicates.

Last week two Chinese nationals accused of assaulting award-winning Eastern Cape gospel singer Lusanda Mcinga, 43, appeared briefly in the Willowvale magistrate's court.

The two had allegedly assaulted Mcinga when she confronted them with fake CDs of her music they were selling.