TRADITIONAL music icon Thomas Chauke has scooped three awards at the 2011 SABC Munghana Lonene Xitsonga Awards.

The awards, which took place at Tzaneen at the weekend, were held in association with the Mopane district municipality and aimed at promoting Xitsonga music and musicians.

Chauke, arguably one of the most popular Xitsonga musicians, has dominated the awards since their inception in 2002. In a career spanning almost three decades, he has won 10 awards.

Since 2004, the awards' organisers have bestowed lifetime achievement awards on the following musicians: Peta Teanet, Paul Ndlovhu, Sello "Chicco" Twala and Mzwakhe Mbuli.

Mbuli was honoured for his dedication to fighting piracy in the music industry, mainly through "Operation Dudula".

In his acceptance speech, Chauke lashed out at music piracy. He said piracy left many musicians poor.

"I would like to urge the government to intervene in the fight against music piracy because artists lose money that could support their families," Chauke said.