Joyous Celebration leader Lindelani Mkhize has applied for a protection order against a Joburg businesswoman for calling him gay on Facebook, among other things.
The woman, identified as Paballo Sefara, also insulted Mkhize’s multiple award-winning gospel hybrid Joyous Celebration when she called it “Gayous Celebration”.
Mkhize obtained the interim restraining order against Sefara at the Randburg magistrate’s court last Friday.
He pleaded with the court to stop Sefara from further insulting him and remove all the posts she uploaded on social media about him.
Sefara, who owns a showbiz company called Le’Vibe Entertainment, had been asked to appear in court later this month to defend the application from being made a final order against her.
In the papers, Mkhize alleged that Sefara, who used the parody account “Gadaff i Gadaffi Manaffi”, posted a slew of allegations against him and his gospel group from as early as March.
In one post, according to the papers, Sefara uploaded a photo depicting four people with a caption that two of the men in the photo where announcing that they were gay and were preparing to get married.
She also said among them was a man from Joyous Celebration who was about to get married to Mkhize, who should “still go”, insinuating that he was gay and should come out of the closet.
Mkhize said Sefara made another post on May 15 with a photo depicting her under a dragon head with the caption that said shemet the ensemble founder who asked for a selfie when she came across him at “Gayous Celebration”.
He said Sefara further insulted and defamed him when she called him a mafia and a kingpin.
“I am devastated and heartbroken and in utter dismay of the venom that has been unleashed on me which was totally unwarranted. This is malicious, untrue, most unkind, unprovoked and damaging to me as a public figure and a parent.
“I however also wish to point out that even if they were true, she should have respected my rights as a person and not posted them,” said Mkhize in his papers.
He added that Sefara alleged that he exploited Joyous Celebration members and paid them R3,000 for taking them to the US, where they recorded an album.
She also alleged Mkhize failed to pay 20 vocalists the R30,000 appearance fee they charged him for performing at one of his concepts titled “Ignite Music Production” in Durban in February. Mkhize said he was unable to comment as the matter was sub-judice.
“This matter is in the hands of the law. Can I rather allow the law to deal with the matter because I don’t know who this woman is,” he pleaded.
Sefara could not be reached at the time of going to print. According to her Facebook posts, she modeled herself as a champion of what she believed were voiceless musicians who were terrified of speaking out against certain music bosses.
By Ngwako Malatji
