Producer extraordinaire DJ Maphorisa might not be let off the hook easily in a case of assault laid against him by his girlfriend Thuli Phongolo.
This despite her dropping the charges.
Wednesday marks his fourth court appearance at the Randburg magistrate’s court following his arrest at the Sandton Police station, where he spent the night in police cells in May.
The Mnike hitmaker, born Sonnyboy Sekowe, is expected to make legal representations which will determine if the court scraps the matter off the roll for good.
However, a legal expert said despite the case being withdrawn by Phongolo during his first appearance, the court might decide to proceed with trial due to the severity of the matter.
Lawyer Buang Jones of Buang Jones Attorneys said the numerous court postponements in Maphorisa’s legal matter are a standard procedure.
“It is standard practice for the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] to consider representations and make a determination on whether or not to continue [with] the prosecution of the matter,” said Jones.
“So that decision has to be made by the chief prosecutor in consultation with the director of public prosecutions in Gauteng.
“It is not unheard where even the complainant has filed a statement wanting to withdraw, the NPA will still need time to exercise its discretion on whether they will prosecute or not.
“Remember the decision to prosecute is the decision of the NPA alone, not the decision of the survivor, but the NPA as an independent statutory body.”
He added that the NPA has taken a tougher stance on gender-based-violence (GBV) in the previous years to set a precedent in such cases.
“The posture of government including that of the NPA has changed in the past given the high prevalence of GBV in the country, so cases related to GBV are treated different given the surge of gender-based violence in our society.”
The deejay made a brief appearance in court last week, where the matter was postponed to July 12, because the senior prosecutor was not present.
Maphorisa, who is also known as Phori, allegedly slept Phongolo and dragged her on the floor during an altercation.
In a statement, Phongolo told the police that she had an argument with the Ba Straata hitmaker after she confronted him about an argument at a gig the previous night.
The actress said: “I confronted him so that we can talk about our argument, which happened the previous night during his gig.”
The actress, who was accompanied by her road manager when she opened the case, said Maphorisa responded aggressively and started slapping her.
“He held me and took me to the balcony, and grabbed me aggressively by my neck,” she said.
Maphorisa is out on R4 000 bail.
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