Cape Town — Popular TV personality and choreographer Somizi Mhlongo requested to take some time off from work Metro FM radio station after his estranged husband Mohale Motaung made a series of abuse allegations against him.
Rumours of infidelity and pending divorce marred the celebrity couple's relationship after their reality TV wedding series, Somizi & Mohale: The Union , which aired on Showmax in 2020.
After months of denying rumours that their marriage is on the rocks, Mohale - in an explosive audio interview obtained by Sunday World - addressed reports of infidelity and made domestic abuse allegations against his husband. The jaw-dropping details are contained in a recorded interview with the producers of Living the Dream With Somizi. Mohale apparently said Somgaga tried to "sabotage" his career and efforts to be financially independent.
Somizi then released an official statement, denying the allegations of criminal acts, saying that he has never knowingly been physically or emotionally abusive toward his now-estranged husband.
Somizi's participation as an Idols SA judge has become uncertain following the serious nature of the allegations.
Somizi said in his statement:
Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would one day have to defend my honor as a result of someone I have loved so deeply and so genuinely deliberately harming a reputation I've worked so hard to build. For the most part of my life, I've kept my relationships out of the public eve, until my one and only marriage, which you witnessed on television and other media."
It took me this long to arrive at a stage where I could make the conscious decision to share my life traditionally and lawfully with someone, and that should explain the level of depth of my love for that person and commitment to that person. It is incredibly painful that what I thought would be a beautiful new normal for the rest of my life with the love of my life, is no longer what will happen. I have loved loudly and proudly, and as such, you all have experienced parts of our relationship by virtue of my reality show, our wedding special on tv and our social media platform.
Now, you are also an audience to what has sadly become a breakup between two people laced by defamation, false but very serious allegations and interference from supposedly close and reliable sources in the spread of information (some true and some false).
The facts of the matter that I am comfortable to share are the following:
1. Our relationship had its ups and its downs, but I have NEVER been physically or knowingly emotionally abusive towards my estranged husband. I vehemently deny the allegations of criminal acts towards him and would like to clear my name of that defamation. What I am going to state however, is that we had one altercation in which I had to defend myself and both of us were physically hurt by the other. I am at this stage not at liberty to dive deeper into the details but can state that he is not a victim in this situation.
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2. I have been accused of sabotaging his efforts to be financially independent and can confirm that I have never made a concerted effort to block his opportunities. In fact, I have encouraged it, I have even through my own channels petitioned for opportunities for him to make money through my networks and I've amplified some of the work he's done through his campaigns.
3. There have been publications of stories related to our sex life and a lot of what has been said is absolutely untrue. These are very personal private matters, and I would like to keep it as such.
What is incredibly painful is that as a person whose income is reliant on their reputation and public image, this campaign to smear my reputation has the potential to result in loss of income. I have already had to take leave from my places of employment in order to focus on this process. This wouldn't have had to happen if I wasn't being accused of things I didn't do.
In as far as the divorce itself is concerned, my only aim is to have it finalized fairly and reasonably. I am taking what was said on record by my estranged husband very seriously and my legal team is taking steps to address those allegations through the processes afforded to us by the law. For now, this is as much as I am comfortable with saying to address all these issues. Please allow us the space and privacy to deal with what should be a very private matter. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Somizi Mhlongo.
