South African media personality and socialite Zodwa Wabantu, has reacted to alleged claims that she had swindled a club owner out of R15 000 in deposited funds and later failed to pitch for a series of performances in Mpumalanga, reported Sunday World.
According to Sunday World, the media personality was booked to perform at four entertainment establishments in and around Mbombela on March 4 20223.
One source told the publication that many of the socialite’s fans were excited to see her perform as they waited all night long, however they were disappointed as the popular entertainer only managed to perform at one event.
“People spent their money believing they would see maponapona (nudity) but they saw dololo (nothing),” said one of the establishment owners who spoke to the publication.
Another source told the publication:
“We are completely frustrated because our patrons believed we robbed them in the name of Zodwa Wabantu. Patrons are accusing us of false advertising but we are not at fault. We paid the required deposit but she left us hanging,” said the source who told the publication anonymously.
All the club owners told the publication that all they want is a public apology and their money back.
“She must pay back the money and tell the people of Mpumalanga why she disappointed them. Her manager sent us videos proving that she had a tyre puncture,” said one club owner.
“We are all human and ubuntu runs in our veins, so we compromised and all agreed that she would perform on Sunday, but she vanished into thin air,” one of the owners told the publication.
According to Sunday World, the manager of Zodwa, Terrance Olifant, told the publication that the club owners want to paint Zodwa in a bad light.
“We normally don’t do newspaper interviews on such issues, but this time I felt the truth should be out there because these colleagues want to paint the sister in a bad light,” he told the publication.
He continued to explain the situation that took place by saying the following while speaking to the above publication mentioned:
“We got to Coyotes around 9pm on that day and she was ready to perform, but the entire evening turned into a nightmare. The guys said it was too early for the sister to perform, so we travelled to Matsulu in our V-Class for the first performance. Before reaching Matsulu we hit a pothole and had to spend a lot of time changing the tyre. When the tyre was fixed we drove to the event and she performed even though there was no security. When she was done we were delayed due to issues around the balance. It was frustrating because this was a discount. We normally charge R25 000 a venue,” said Terrance.
“We waited a long time before the guys we left at Coyotes came to our rescue.”
“When the guys were done they complained they no longer had petrol and we had to take them back to Coyotes or at least go somewhere to buy petrol and come back to them,” Terrance explained to the publication.
“We had to just cut our losses and go back to Fourways, Joburg. They cannot demand their R15 000 back when we spent so much and didn’t make money from the gigs,” said Terrance.
Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala confirmed that a case of theft was opened against Zodwa on March 10 the publication reported.
