Police claim to be getting pressure from a top politician regarding the case that was opened by a female drug lord, alongside her brothers,
He was arrested last week following an incident on the set of Moja LOVE show, Sizok’thola. Former X-Repo Presenter, Xolani Maphanga was arrested in his first month from taking over from Xolani Khumalo and is facing serious charges of attempted murder for allegedly assaultingan elderly female drug dealer.
The controversial channel has since released a statement, sighting that Xolani maintains his innocence. “Following the arrest of the new Sizok’thola presenter, Xolani Maphanga, on allegations that he assaulted an old lady during the filming of one of the episodes, Moja LOVE (DStv 157) would like to put it on record that the presenter has admitted that it was a case of mistaken identity and maintains he did not assault anyone during filming,” the statement reads. “To cooperate with law enforcement, the presenter handed himself to the Soshanguve Police Station yesterday along with a member of the security detail. They were remanded in custody until a bail hearing.”
The spokesperson of the channel, Nonzwakazi Cekete says, “Leading to yesterday’s events, the police from Tshwane had met with the executive of the channel and said they wanted to charge him and the bodyguards with assault GBH but upon handing themselves in, the charges had changed to attempted murder and trespassing,” she added. “ In the same meeting, the police indicated that they were getting pressure from a top politician regarding the case that was opened by a female drug lord, alongside her brothers, who were accusing Xolani and the bodyguards of assault. “
The channel expressed concern that politicians were interfering with the work of the police. “It was within this jurisdiction, that the crew found a corrupt cop collecting payola from the drug lord. Moja LOVE has footage to this effect and will be reporting this to the Independent Police Investigate Directorate (IPID),” Nonzwakazi said. “Moja LOVE has heard Xolani’s side of the story and respects it but will allow the course of justice to take its place. The channel does not advocate for any ill-discipline and should it discover that there were indeed any unlawful incidents on set, it will take the necessary steps.”
They went on to say that, “ As a channel, we will continue to fight the spread of drugs in South Africa without fear or favour and we will do so by following the laws and regulations of South Africa,” the statement reads. “Sizok’thola is an important property of the channel as it exposes the extent of the drug problem in our communities and aims at rooting out the rot of drug lords and drug dealers. We continue to appeal to the public to report any illegal activities to the police and emphasise again that we are deeply invested in contributing positively to our society. The channel will cooperate fully with law enfor
Cece Smith 