Khanyi shuns playboy Bhaka
AFTER a bloody end to his relationship with singer Kelly Khumalo, controversial Durban herbalist Bhaka has been inching himself closer to TV personality Khanyi Mbau. But Mbau has told him to go jump. Mbau was hired by a production company to shoot a promotional video (not for broadcast purposes) for Bhaka in which Mbau interviews the herbalist about how he made his money. But it seems Bhaka wanted Mbau to be more than just the interviewer.
In a series of SMSes Sowetan saw, Bhaka gets too familiar and calls Mbau “friend” and “dear”. Mbau said he constantly rang her up to a point where she begged him to stop as he made her uncomfortable. Read an SMS in part: “Bhaka, please stop with all these calls. You are making me uncomfortable …”
She later fired off another SMS when Bhaka persisted.
“You guys set me up! You booked me to do an interview attaching me to things I don’t even know about.
“All I asked in the interview was a brief from your production team and director. I have struggled and worked hard to rebuild my brand through growing up and taking my own life seriously. I have struggled with great difficulty to earn the respect of South Africa and trust.
“I will not allow you to murder my efforts out of your immature approach to this industry. I am very disappointed by your behaviour.”
The last salvo Mbau fired read: “Bhaka I told you a number of times … do not involve me in your life and its shenanigans. I do not like the publicity you come with … Stop creating stories about me. I have no business with you and have no interest in what you sell.”
Mbau told Sowetan she was disappointed at the lack of professionalism between Bhaka and the company that hired her. “Now I’m drawn into a publicity stunt to draw attention to his business by using my profession and name to gain whatever it is. As a talkshow [host] I give people a platform to express themselves without prejudice, but it affects me when they use that to put me at risk and try [to] mess [up] my image. I sent him messages [saying] that I don’t appreciate how he’s handled things,” she said.
When approached for comment, Bhaka was defensive. He denied being a pest, insisting that he and Mbau were only ever in contact when she interviewed him.
“Khanyi and I are not even friends. I’m not in contact with her. No, not at all. The people who are in touch with her are the people from Impucuzeko Production Company, which arranged an interview for me with her. I don’t deal with these things, the company does. I’m not even the right person to talk to.”
When questioned about his persistent calls to Mbau, Bhaka denied them outright. “It’s not true that I’m trying to have Khanyi as my concubine. I’m happy with my wife.”