The glittering South African Music Awards (Sama's) seem to be in danger of not being staged this year.
The 29th SAMA edition, which was supposed to be held at the Sun City Superbowl, in North West Province, around May or June, is a no-show.
The North West Department of Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation, which hosts the event, is not part of the two-day gig.
The department all spokesperson, Shuping Sebolecwe said the Sama's usually occur in May. However, this year their department is will not be part of the annual event, and they are also not sponsoring the Sama's.
The event is hosted by the Recording Industry of South Africa (Risa).
Risa spokesperson Lesley Mofokeng was more diplomatic about the dilemma they face of not staging the popular and much-talked about event.
He said the awards have been delayed, and "not cancelled. He said the Sama organiser and Risa chief executive, Nhlanhla Sibisi was working behind the scenes, and they will release a statement soon, to stage the event.
The opening of the nominations happened in March this year and closed on April.
Risa and the Sama's even gave the event a tagline that says: "Are yeng Bokoni Bophirima?"
The Sama's have faced criticism from some artists with others accusing the awards of poor planning.
Stanley "Heavy" Khoza, the chairperson of Composers, Authors and Publishers Association (Capasso) said: "It is a shame and not good. By this time we don't know if the biggest show in the country is still going on or not. I am not good.
"Some artists, specifically local artists, benefit from the event and opportunities arise. It's embarrassing for such longest-standing awards to be let go. We must appeal to the Department of Arts and Culture, both nationally and provincially to take part and save the event."
During their peak years, the Sama's used to be sponsored by many companies at a go - the likes of MTN who introduced the yellow carpet, which goes with their branding.
Other beer companies and motor vehicle brands used to be part of the gig.
