Flabba was jealous, says Sindi
“I’M NOT a gold digger because I’m with you and you don’t have any gold to dig.”
This was just one of the startling remarks murder accused Sindisiwe Manqele screamed at her rapper boyfriend Nkululeko “Flabba” Habedi during an explosive lovers’ quarrel at a Johannesburg nightclub in March.
Hours later, as the quarrel escalated into physical violence, Manqele turned a kitchen knife on him at his Alexandra home, inflicting a single fatal wound to his chest.
The business studies student has pleaded not guilty to the Skwatta Kamp rapper’s murder, saying she stabbed him in self-defence.
Yesterday, Manqele took the witness stand in the Johannesburg High Court, sitting in Randburg, and gave a completely different account of the events that led to the fatal stabbing.
Previously, the rapper’s family and friends had told the court that Manqele became jealous at The Sands nightclub in Sandton, causing her to ultimately end his life.
This, they said, was because she thought Habedi was flirting with other women, including his ex-girlfriend.
But Manqele gave a different version, saying she was the victim of the rapper’s jealousy. This stemmed from the financial rough patch he was experiencing at the time.
Manqele denied even knowing the rapper’s exgirlfriend and maintained that she was never jealous at any point of the night. Unlike in previous appearances, she was unable to shield her face with a scarf – leaving her exposed to sharp glares from the public gallery, which was packed, mostly with Habedi’s relatives.
Her voice trembled and she occasionally fought back tears as she recounted her last moments with Habedi, with whom she claims she had a close relationship until the stabbing.
Manqele said that on the evening of March 8, she and Habedi as well as his friend Nkululeko Chauke and his girlfriend, Masego Tsele, went to The Sands as a fellow Skwatta Kamp member was hosting an event. She said the group were in high spirits when they arrived there, and they drank and danced together.
Even during the rapper’s performance, she stood in front of the stage and danced along while pulling funny faces in an attempt to support him.
But the mood changed dramatically when two men came to chat to Manqele and Tsele while their boyfriends mingled with their colleagues.
Manqele testified that the men simply came to tell them that they were attractive.
She admitted that she was friendly with them.
However, Habedi was not impressed and according to Manqele, he and Chauke stormed towards them and demanded to know why the men “were speaking to their chicks”.
The men who had complimented Manqele and Tsele responded that the women were free to do as they pleased and a verbal altercation erupted between the two opposing groups.
At that point, the rapper grabbed Manqele, insisting that they leave the club, and said to her: “Let’s go before you make me crazy”. Manqele refused to do so and told Habedi not to pull her around.
As the couple walked outside the club, the rapper insisted that Manqele had disrespected him by speaking to other men in front of his friends. Tension escalated further when the rapper called Manqele a “gold digger” who wanted to fish for rich men as he did not have the funds to support her.
Manqele is expected to continue testifying today.