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Johannesburg - Joburg socialite Joyce Molamu says she is trying to build her life in a bid to shed the image of being described as minister Fikile Mbalula’s ex-nyatsi.
But TV personality Uyanda Mbuli is standing in her way.
This week a bulk of saucy WhatsApp messages were leaked to City Press suggesting a very close relationship between Mbuli and Molamu’s fiancé, a Johannesburg businessman known as King Maseko.
The messages are from February to July.
In some messages, Mbuli asks for money and moans to Maseko that it is hard to work for oneself.
She often referred to King as “babe”, “hon” or “love”, while King referred to her as “beautiful”.
He also sent regular good night messages and morning greetings.
In another message, Maseko asked: “Can I call you now I miss your voice.”
Mbuli retorts: “Won’t it disturb Ramadan?” Maseko responded assuredly, saying: “No you won’t.”
In a message Maseko sent Mbuli on 22 June, he wrote: “I miss you. The way I like you, I don’t know what to do. Always you’re on my mind.”
Mbuli responded: “I’m glad. Cos the feeling is mutual.”
The next day Mbuli sent several messages asking Maseko to “Please call my love [followed by a heart emoji]”. She also requested that he give her a lift after she bumped her vehicle and left it somewhere.
Maseko responded saying: “Ok cool.”
During her trip to London in June, Mbuli sent Maseko several pictures documenting her visit and kept him abreast of her itinerary, including her move from London to Paris.
Molamu says these messages prove that she did not just wake up one morning and decide to have a squabble with Mbuli, but that she first found the incriminating text messages in her “man’s phone”.
Mbuli’s publicist manager, Simphiwe Majola, said people close to Mbuli are familiar with her habit of calling people by various pet names. This did not mean she was romantically involved, he said.
“Uyanda and I have been friends for 13 years. She has called me ‘my bhabha’, ‘sweetheart’ and ‘my love’ for all those years. For the record, we do not have [a romantic relationship] or have ever been romantically involved,” Majola stressed.
The public spat started in July after Molamu found the messages between Mbuli and Maseko. She was angry and posted Mbuli’s private phone number on Facebook with a message saying: “Uyanda must find herself a blesser so that she can stop asking our men money.”
Mbuli denied having an affair with Maseko, and said Maseko was her homeboy.
She also claimed that she was helping Maseko financially, which is why she asked for the money she lent him in the text messages.
Not long after Molamu’s accusations surfaced Mbuli opened a case of crimen injuria against Molamu.
A week ago, Mbuli appeared at the Midrand Branch Court.
Molamu did not attend the proceedings, instead sending her lawyer Chris Rangululu with a sick note on her behalf. The case was postponed until 30 October.
Majola said it was surprising that Molamu failed to come to court and yet she was “comfortable to come to City Press to make such claims in the same way she was keen to go to Sunday World, instead of dealing with this through the court of law”.
“I would like to put it on record that my client [Mbuli] has never met Molamu in person and she’ll meet her for the first time in court on the 30th October 2017.
“She respects court processes on this matter and refuses to take the law into her own hands,” he said.
When asked about his relationship with Mbuli, Maseko declined to comment, adding: “I’ll tell my story in court.”
Molamu, a Wits law student, said Maseko was willing to testify in court that he does not owe Mbuli money.
“The allegations that they have been friends for years are untrue. Furthermore, my boyfriend is not rich; he is a hardworking man like most men.
“In fact, we work together. That is why I got so upset, that he would even consider taking the little that we have to give to other women,” Molamu said.
She told City Press this week that it broke her heart every time she saw her name in newspapers and online media.
Molamu referred to this week’s reports on entertainment website Zalebs, where Mbuli responded to allegations of being embroiled in a love triangle with Maseko.
“I cannot allow a girl I don’t know with a bad image of sleeping with other people’s husbands to paint me with the same brush,” Mbuli reportedly said, referring to Molamu’s past relationship with Mbalula.
Instead of being described as ex-nyatsi, Molamu said she has focused on reclaiming her own identity and building her character.
She admitted there were things that she did when she was younger that she was not proud of.
“If I could undo them, I would. Unfortunately, I cannot, I can just try to be a better person.
"My past seems to be following me around; I cannot have any mishap without it making the news. I pray to God that someday I will live a normal life,” she said.
“We all have our past and some people have horrendous backgrounds. It’s just that mine ended up in the media.”
Molamu accused Mbuli of using her name to promote her SABC3 reality show Uyanda It’s On.
“I am tired of Uyanda [Mbuli] wanting numbers [ratings] for her reality show at my expense.”
