South African media personality Somizi Mhlongo is due to appear in court for making ‘jokes’ over lockdown extensions claiming he was told by Minister Fikile Mbalula.
The media personality who is currently caught up in a legal battle with his estranged husband’ Mohale Motaung, is set to face the full might of the law when the matter of his alleged contravention of the Disaster Management Act goes to trial in October.
This comes after the case was postponed on Thursday. Speaking outside the Randburg Magistrates Court, Somizi’s lawyer Jaya Moodley said:
“Somizi, in April last year, 2020, he apparently made a remark to Dineo Ranaka on Radio Metro that the lockdown will be extended and she asked him how he knows that and he said that Fikile Mbalula told him.”
“So he was charged in terms of section 27 of contravening the Disaster Management Act. This was a live Instagram chat and somebody very mischievously screen recorded that from Instagram and just before President Cyril Ramaphosa could announce the lockdown, they published this on various social media platforms,” he added.
The matter went to court last year after a warrant of arrest was issued for Somizi. According to his lawyer the matter is being postponed too many times for their liking.
At some point Somgaga was arrested but later released on bail.
His lawyer added that no decision about this has been made by the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP).
“So I decided today that we’re fed up of the director of public prosecutions, we are going to postpone it for trial, there is no case against Somizi,” said Moodley.
At the time of making the video Somizi received a lot of backlash and later retracted his statement saying he had not spoken to Mbalula and was just trying to ‘scare’ Dineo.
He further apologized to Mbalula for the ‘bad joke’.
This update regarding the case comes just over a week after his estranged husband Mohale Motaung exposed him of being an abusive partner.
In the leaked audios that circulated on social media, Mohale accused Somizi of threatening to kill him.
The two have since admitted that they are going through a divorce and requested that their privacy be respected.
