Apple Credits Nomsa Mazwai as Composer on Black Coffee’s “Traveller.” A Criminal Complaint Says She Was Never Paid for It.

September 27, 2026

Deal sheet

Status

Unresolved. Nomsa Mazwai, who records as Nomisupasta, has opened a criminal complaint against Nkosinathi Maphumulo (Black Coffee) alleging she has never received a featured-artist royalty for "Traveller," the 2013 single credited to Black Coffee featuring Mazwai and Black Motion. The complaint was opened at Sandton police station in August 2026 and remained an open investigation, not a charge, as of the most recent report checked (27 September 2026). No court case number, no civil judgment and no settlement has been published anywhere this desk checked. Separately from the dispute, this desk independently verified, by reading Apple's own catalogue pages directly, that Apple names Nomsa Mazwai as Composer on the track while crediting the sound recording itself to a third label, Ocha Records, a finding that matches a specific claim Mazwai has made publicly about Apple Music's own credits.

Parties

Soulistic Music, Ocha Records, SAMPRA

Amount

Not disclosed Not disclosed

Rights covered

Two different rights are in play and this record keeps them separate, because the parties themselves do not always keep them separate in public statements.

COMPOSER / SONGWRITER CREDIT: Apple's own artist and album page for the standard single (collection 1444666642) lists "Composer: Nomsa Mazwai," fetched and read directly by this desk on 27 September 2026. Mazwai has told the press, in her own words, "if you look on Apple Music, you'll see my name under composition and lyrics. But under performer, he only put his name." That description matches what this desk independently found on the same page: a performer credit naming Black Coffee and a separate composer credit naming Mazwai.

PHONOGRAM / MASTER CREDIT: Both commercial editions of the original 2013 single (collection 1444666642, standard edit, released 7 May 2013; collection 642025141, Extended Mix, released 30 April 2013) carry the copyright line "℗ 2013 Ocha Records" on Apple, independently corroborated by Deezer, which returns the label as "Ocha Records" and the identical UPC, 888002141620, for the standard edition. Ocha Records is a real, separately registered label entity: MusicBrainz's registry gives it a life-span beginning in 2005, country United States, and Resident Advisor's own label profile names Carlos Mena as the person who started it, with no mention anywhere on that profile of Black Coffee, Soulistic Music or "Traveller." This desk could not independently verify trade-press descriptions of a licence from Soulistic Music to Ocha Records for this specific track, because the pages carrying that description blocked automated retrieval; see the caveats below.

FEATURED-PERFORMER NEIGHBOURING-RIGHTS ROYALTY: Administered in South Africa by SAMPRA, the collecting society for needletime rights on sound recordings, separate from songwriter royalties. Mazwai says SAMPRA distributions to her and to Black Motion combined, covering January 2013 to December 2024, totalled roughly R7,000. This desk did not obtain a SAMPRA statement or distribution schedule directly; the figure comes from Mazwai's own account as reported in the press and is not independently confirmed here.

A SEPARATE "FEATURED ARTIST ROYALTY" MAZWAI SAYS SHE IS OWED DIRECTLY: Mazwai has publicly distinguished this from the SAMPRA payment: "His lawyers kept saying I had to speak to Sampra, and I was like, 'No, that's not the featured artist royalty, that's a different thing.'" She says this separate royalty, which she puts at over R2 million in total revenue generated by the track, was never paid to her by Black Coffee or his label. Black Coffee's lawyer, David Feinberg of Rosengarten & Feinberg, has responded that "to the extent recording revenues were received and accounted for, they were received and accounted for by Soulistic Music," a statement that names where he says the money sits without confirming any specific payment to Mazwai. No accounting document from either side has been published.

Territory

South Africa, for every part of the dispute: SAMPRA's jurisdiction, the Sandton police station complaint, and the South African press in which every quote used here was originally given. The underlying commercial recording was released internationally through a United States-registered label, Ocha Records, per Apple and Deezer, and a later compilation appearance, "Africa Rising" (Deezer catalogue, released 23 September 2016), carries a South African distributor credit, "Universal Music (Pty) Ltd.," on the compilation as a whole. This desk treats the compilation credit as evidence of a 2016 South African compilation licence, not as a statement about who owns the original 2013 master; no source states that ownership of the master moved.

Announced

2026-08-20

Primary document

Rights registry

Sources

Read this before citing: NO COURT CASE NUMBER IS PUBLIC. Mazwai is reported to have shared a notice of a Gauteng High Court civil matter set down for 1 September 2026, but one of the reports checked disputes that reading and says the date is Mazwai's own stated financial deadline rather than a confirmed hearing date. This desk found no case number, no court roll listing and no judgment for either a civil or criminal proceeding, and states plainly that none was found rather than guessing at one.

THE CASE-OPENING DATE IS REPORTED TWO WAYS. The earliest report checked, from 20 August 2026, gives 14 August as the date the criminal complaint was opened at Sandton police station. A later report, from 26 September 2026, gives 17 August. Both name the same police station and the same spokesperson's office. This record states both dates and does not pick one, because nothing checked resolves the discrepancy.

THE R2 MILLION AND R7,000 FIGURES ARE CLAIMS, NOT AUDITED AMOUNTS. Both numbers come from Mazwai's own public statements as relayed in the press: R2 million as the revenue she says the track generated and the amount she is owed, and roughly R7,000 as the combined SAMPRA distribution to her and Black Motion over an eleven-year period. This desk obtained no accounting record, royalty statement or SAMPRA disclosure that independently confirms either figure, and neither amount is entered in this record's amount field for that reason.

OCHA RECORDS AND SOULISTIC MUSIC ARE NOT SHOWN HERE AS THE SAME ENTITY, BECAUSE THIS DESK COULD NOT ESTABLISH THAT THEY ARE. Apple and Deezer both name Ocha Records as the phonogram owner of the 2013 single. Black Coffee's lawyer says recording revenues, to the extent received, were accounted for by Soulistic Music, Black Coffee's own label. Trade coverage indexed by search engines describes a licence from Soulistic Music to Ocha Records for this specific track, which would reconcile the two credits, but the pages carrying that description (Juno Daily, Traxsource, Beatport) returned HTTP 403 to every fetch attempt from this desk and were never read directly. This record does not repeat that licence description as fact. What is independently established is only the two separate credits themselves: composer to Mazwai, phonogram owner to Ocha Records, and a lawyer's statement naming Soulistic Music as where revenue was accounted for.

BLACK COFFEE'S OWN POSITION HAS BEEN GIVEN TWICE, DIFFERENTLY. On 20 August 2026 his team is quoted saying only that "the matter is being handled internally and no comment at this stage." By 26 September 2026 his lawyer is quoted giving a substantive rebuttal, calling the fraud allegation baseless and the claim defamatory and malicious. This record treats these as two statements at two points in time, not as a single position.

THIS DESK OBTAINED NO STATEMENT FROM SAMPRA. SAMPRA's own website was checked directly for its account of the needletime royalty mechanism at the centre of this dispute and returned a podcast player with no transcript. No SAMPRA distribution statement, membership record or payment schedule for this track was obtained. Everything in this record about what SAMPRA paid and when rests on Mazwai's own account, not on a SAMPRA document.

THE RELEASE YEAR IN THE PRESS DOES NOT MATCH THE RELEASE YEAR ON THE PLATFORMS. South African press coverage describes "Traveller" as a 2012 song. Apple's and Deezer's own metadata, independently checked, date the commercial single release to 30 April and 7 May 2013, with a 2013 copyright year on both editions. This may reflect a difference between when the track was recorded or first performed and when it was formally released, which this desk did not attempt to resolve; both editions checked carry only a 2013 release date.

Deal sheet

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