Kunene ’ s secret love child
Actress claims Vusi has not paid papgeld for 17 years
ISIBAYA actor Vusi Kunene is burning the midnight oil.
Sunday World can exclusively reveal, however, that Kunene is not memorising his lines but writing reasons to the Randburg Magistrate ’ s Court to explain why he allegedly defaulted on his child maintenance payments for 17 years.
Kunene has a teenage daughter with actress Grace Mahlaba, who played Ipeleng in the discontinued e.tv soapie Backstage.
The two will square off behind closed doors at the court next week, when salacious details of their old dalliance will be revealed.
Kunene confirmed that Mahlaba has dragged him to court, but said he did not understand why she claimed he had not been maintaining the child.
“I don ’ t understand why she says that, but I would rather not comment and state my case in court instead,” he said.
Mahlaba said: “Yes, I have a 17-year-old girl with Kunene, but I have not claimed any maintenance.
“Maybe she [the child] is the one who went to court.”
But sources close to the couple insist that Mahlaba filed a papgeld suit against Kunene about two weeks ago because she was struggling.
She is demanding about R5 000 a month in maintenance from Kunene.
One mole said Mahlaba was reluctant to take Kunene to court because she was worried that details of their affair, which has been kept under wraps for almost two decades, will become tabloid fodder.
“She told us that she has been supporting the child for all these years and this man has never popped out a single cent towards maintenance.
“She is now suing him because things are tough for her because she has not been getting jobs for a few years,” says the source.
The other source also confirmed that Mahlaba had dragged Kunene to court because her pleas to him to help her maintain the child had apparently been falling on deaf ears.
The source said Kunene had told Mahlaba to go to court after claiming that she wanted “a lot of money ”.
“He says he can ’ t afford to pay that money because he is not rich.”
The source said they were surprised to learn about the child because Kunene did not breathe a word to them about it.
“We are actually shocked that the two dated.
“We only learnt (about it) through this maintenance dispute,” said the source.