A top member of the Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA) has threatened legendary kwaito musician Eugene Mthethwa with assault.
Thobela Dlamini publicly announced that he wants to beat the parliament Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture member and kwaito artist.
Planned to assault him at the graveyard
“How I wanted to meet him at the graveside today and when I was told he left, I was disappointed. It’s time we deal with people like him man to man. Jokes aside, I’ll moer him when we meet. He’s too forward,” Dlamini wrote in kwaito legend Arthur Mofokate’s WhatsApp group.
Mofokate discouraged him and said: “Just avoid it.”
Mthethwa alleged that Dlamini asked for money from the Department of Sports Arts and Culture using the late Doc Shebeleza’s name. “I saw the letter from Dlamini to DSAC,” Mthethwa told Sunday World.
Accused Mthethwa of interfering in artists’ funeral arrangements
He further accused Dlamini of interfering with Doc Shebeleza and Winnie Khumalo’s memorial services and funeral arrangements.
“I was approached by Doc Shebeleza’s family. They sought advice from me as Thobela wanted to combine Doc Shebeleza and Winnie Khumalo’s memorial services.
“I advised the family against that idea because it was just not making sense. And I informed the family that, due to the status and magnitude of these two musicians, it’d be impossible to combine their memorial services. You’d need more than 10 hours to have such a memorial service.
“Another challenge was that, Doc Shebeleza had written the programme for his memorial and funeral service. He obviously could see he was departing.
“That request wasn’t going to be overlooked. The family was disturbed because Dlamini was dictating to them. He wanted to tell them what to do. And he even lied to them and said he’d been sent by the Department of Sports Arts and Culture,” said Mthethwa.
Mthethwa accused Dlamini of same interference
“I then inquired with DSAC and they rejected Dlamini’s claims, they said they never sent him. And I knew he was misleading the family because he always interferes with people’s funerals. He even changed Mandoza and Mapaputsi’s funeral programme. So I alerted the family and everyone that he was lying, that he was not sent by the Department or anyone.”
Mthethwa said that Dlamini was not happy about this. And he stopped communicating with Doc Shebeleza’s family.
“I suspect he’s the one who advised Winnie Khumalo’s family to do the memorial and funeral on the same day as Doc Shebeleza’s. Initially, Winnie’s funeral was scheduled for Friday 17 January and Doc Shebeleza’s for Saturday, 18 January. But Dlamini messed everything up, he divided the industry,” said Mthethwa.
Mthethwa said he is aware of Dlamini’s threat and he confronted him about it.
Dlamini said threat was a joke
“I saw his text, that he wanted to beat me up at the gravesite. But he saw me and we were few metres away. Why didn’t he beat me. I’m not a coward, he must just try me. In fact, I confronted him and asked him about it and he never responded,” said Mthethwa.
Dlamini denied everything and said: “I was joking about violence threats. But I never asked for donations from DSAC. A family member asked me to do a template for donations and I did that. It wasn’t me who was asking for donations.
“I did make a suggestion to combine these memorial services. And I did it for the betterment of the industry. I just want proof of this letter, otherwise I’ll sue him for defamation of character. He is bitter and has reached his expiry date.”
