Controversial blogger Musa Khawula was set to appear in court on Thursday following his arrest on Wednesday.
The news was confirmed by Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo, who stated that Khawula was arrested in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday.
“Police can confirm that the suspect was arrested in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, after a warrant of arrest was issued against him,” said Masondo.
“He is expected to appear before the Newcastle Magistrate’s Court, where the matter will be transferred to Gauteng. He is facing a charge of contravention of the Cyber Crime Act.”
Two separate charges in the lawsuit
According to the court register, Khawula is also facing crimen injuria charges for making disparaging remarks about businessman Ze Nxumalo and his wife Tamaryn Green-Nxumalo.
The couple’s lawyer, Vanessa Fernihough, of Vanessa Fernihough & Associates law firm, told Sunday World that Khawula has been arrested for crimen injuria, which was a separate charge from the defamation case in which he was ordered to take down defamatory statements he had made on X and apologise. She said a warrant of arrest had been issued for the second charge but Khawula had avoided arrest for some time.
There were two lawsuits. First one was defamation of character, for which Khawula was ordered to remove the tweets and apologise. The second one was a criminal charge, that of crimen injuria, which will now continue in court.
Social media post about couple
The matter began with a social media post by Khawula sometime last year. Khawula wrote on his X account how Ze Nxumalo was cheating on his pregnant wife, Tamaryn Green-Nxumalo, with Lebo Mokoena. Mokoena is a reality TV star and businessman Lebo Gunguluza’s ex-wife.
His arrest comes after the Johannesburg High Court last year ruled that Khawula should retract the statements he made on his X social media account on October 12.
Khawula’s failure to comply with the court’s directive led to the issuance of the arrest warrant.
Arrest warrant
The verdict by Judge Ettian Raubenheimer, issued on November 6, points to Khawula’s non-compliance with the court ruling, which stood to subsequently land him back in prison for contempt of court.
“The respondent (Musa Khawula) is directed to permanently retract and remove the statements made by him on his X account,” read the judgement.
The judgment also barred Khawula from mentioning the couple’s names on social media or levelling any more allegations.
Khawula apologised to the Nxumalos several times in 2024.
He, however, failed to retract his statement and offer an apology as required by the court order. Additionally, he was instructed not to mention the couple on any of his social media accounts.
Expressed regret, apologised to couple
He expressed regret on his X account for the disparaging remarks he made about the couple in his posts.
“Askies hle Zesimdumise Nxumalo for saying you cheated on your wife, Dr Tamaryn Green, with Lebo Mokoena,” wrote Khawula.
“That was so wrong of me; how dare I. Will you please ensure that your wife gets this as well? Oh, what a kind man. God bless you.”
Additionally, Khawula emphasised that the couple need not be concerned about the posts on X that are mentioned in the court order.
“I deleted those on the 14th of October 2024 when one of your friends called and begged me endlessly to take the tweets down.
“Guess what? I’m such a cheapskate. I took the money, went and got drunk on cheap alcohol, and then deleted all of them.
“They were also willing to pay me to issue an apology, but I didn’t want’ to do it. So I refused, and now I just did it for free.
“Silly me, again, askies neh for saying all those nasty things about you.”
Murder charges
In July during his court appearance on a murder charge, Khawula was taken into custody at the Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court. He served a 60-day jail sentence without an option of a fine at Malmesbury Correctional Centre and was released unconditionally on September 6 2024.
Also read: Musa Khawula apologises to Ze and Tamaryn Green-Nxumalo
