For a couple of months now, Diamond Platnumz and his trusted manager Jorge Mendez alias Sallam SK have not been making public appearances together like before.
Diamond and Sallam have turned their backs on each other for close to four months – they haven’t been spotted together as has been the norm for more than a decade.
In November, music stakeholders hosted a conference in Dar es Salaam and Diamond showed up with his entire Wasafi label unit, including his other two managers – Babu Tale and Said Fella alias Mkubwa Fella but Mendez was no show.
Mendez was also conspicuously missing from the Wasafi team that flew to Qatar for a World Cup match, courtesy of Wasafi Bet, the firm Diamond co-owns.
Wasafi Bet, by extension, is Kenya’s OdiBet subsidiary.
When Diamond launched Wasafi FM studio in Zanzibar and hosted a launch ceremony on the island last week, Sallam was nowhere to be seen.
Ironically, the very week Mendez attended Harmonize gig in Zanzibar. He was seen in a video having a good time with Konde Boy.
It’s interesting to note just a month before, Harmonize released a diss-track ‘Champions’ hitting at Diamond and Mendez.
Mendez savagely hit back Harmonize via his socials, mocking Harmonize for crippling his own music label Konde Gang.
Harmonize fell out with Diamond and Mendez when he forced a move out of WCB label in 2019.
Upon ditching the label, a frosty relationship emerged between the two singers, with Mendez initially taking sides with Diamond.
So bad was the situation that Sallam refused to shake hands with Harmonize when the two met at Babu Tale wife’s funeral in November 2020.
Back to December 2022, Harmonize announced that he will publicly unveil his new manager at his gig that is slated for Christmas Day December 25, 2022.
There are claims that Harmonize’s new manager is none other than Sallam SK Mendez.
Diamond’s manager Babu Tale has since come out to speak about Mendez’s reportedly fallout with the Wasafi boss.
The Morogoro South-East MP claims that Diamond and Mendez have not fallen out as claimed by Tanzanian media.
“As far as I know, Sallam is still part of the Diamond Managers team which is I, him and Said Fella. Tanzanians love to see people fight. Just because Sallam and Harmonize were spotted together, there is a situation between him and Diamond. It was good to see them bury the hatchet because I was hurt when they refused to shake hands during my wife’s burial,” Tale said.
On reports that Mendez is joining Harmonize’s Konde Gang label, Tale said: “That is an interesting joke. Would you ditch Wasafi for Konde Gang? Let’s be practical.”
However, a highly placed source quoted by the Citizen said that Diamond and Mendez clashed because of a business deal.
“I heard that Diamond wasn’t happy with Sallam SK launching the radio station Mjini FM in Dar es Salaam. He saw this as direct competition to Wasafi FM. Diamond is livid because he feels the Wasafi audience will be split once it is established that Sallam owns Mjini FM and still manages him,” the source said.
“When Sallam informed Diamond of his new venture, Simba wasn’t happy but they still tried on a public show until they couldn’t do it anymore. Diamond wanted Sallam to stand down the project,” the source added.
According to the source, Diamond is worried about competition having a good experience of what it is like to work with a strategist and a shrewd businessman like Mendez.
