Publications
Media personalities Somizi Mhlongo and Mohale Motaung are holidaying in Mauritius and Cape Town, respectively, at the release of the much-anticipated documentary about their tumultuous relationship.
The Showmax documentary, Mohale: On The Record, premiered on Thursday. Motaung sat down with broadcaster Aldrin Sampear.
In the documentary, Motaung confirmed allegations of emotional, verbal, and physical abuse at the hands of the Idols SA judge during their two-year union.
Mohale also made scathing allegations against the media personality, accusing him of being controlling, manipulative and sabotaging him.
Rash engagement
Motaung said his relationship with Mhlongo was rushed as they got engaged in Paris in France, five months after their relationship started. The engagement was televised on the reality show, Living the Dream with Somizi.
He said:
Motaung said he agreed to marrying Mhlongo five months into the relationship because he loved him. He added that he did not want to have a public relationship but was forced to do so by the media personality.
Three-some requests
News of the pair’s sexual relationship was laid bare when an audio of Motaung’s interview with Mhlongo’s producers was leaked last year. Motaung confirmed that Mhlongo asked him to have a threesome with another friend named Orlando, a day after their engagement when they visited a club in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
“The advance of the threesome happening was in Orlando’s presence. We were dancing and having fun and then Somizi came to me and said: ‘What do you think about threesomes?’. I said I never really had to think about them because I have never had a desire to do anything of that sort and I proceeded to ask why you would ask me this question and then he said: ‘I think we should have a threesome with Orlando’,” Motaung shared.
He said he was not alarmed as Mhlongo assured him that there was nothing going on between himself and Orlando who was also featured on the show. “I overlooked everything.”
Cheating
In the interview, Motaung also confesses to cheating on the Sarafina actor at the beginning of their relationship.
“We were three months into the relationship, and it is something not to be proud of. It was hurtful for me seeing him that hurt. I cannot sit here and say there was a reason for it happening. It was just me being selfish and not thinking about him.”
READ: Somizi and Mohale were not legally married
Abuse allegations
The businessperson claimed to have been assaulted more than once and did not report the cases to the police as he felt powerless.
He recalled that the first incident happened when he had come back home from work in Durban and found Mhlongo waiting for him on the couch. Motaung said Mhlongo questioned his whereabouts.
“He came upstairs, and I remember he had a bottle of champagne in his hand. I was trying to get out of the clothes I was wearing, and he started spilling champagne on me and with me trying to find out what was going on, he started to beat me and his main aim with everything I remember him saying he needs to mess up my face because this beautiful face is messing things up for him,” he said.
Motaung said the star started hitting him on his ribs, legs, and upper body.
Controlling
Motaung said he felt he was just a missing puzzle in Mhlongo’s perfect life. “Somizi had everything figured out in his life – from his career to his personal life and whatever that he wanted to achieve. In this whole puzzle, the only thing that was missing was marriage and he wanted to do everything to make sure that everything was complete.”
He added that things went sour after he showed interest in being independent and taking jobs in the entertainment industry as an influencer.
“At that time, I was starting to do some work within the influencing community. He said to me that his plan was to marry someone who is not in the industry. So, me doing that type of work upset him.”
Motaung also accused the star of forcing him to resign from his job before their engagement.
Sabotage
Motaung spoke of Somizi’s efforts to sabotage his employment opportunities through a friend, TT Mbha. “I lost out on work because Somizi asked TT to speak to certain people and told them not to hire me. I chose to confront that situation. When I found out how I lost out on a gig, it was very hurtful that my husband and his best friend cooked up a story to make sure that I don’t get that gig.”
Friends protecting him
Motaung alleged that Mhlongo’s friends, including media personality Thami Dish, were privy to the physical abuse. “Thami knew. He told me that Somizi is sorry, and he promises that it will never happen again and that I should go back to the house.”
The divorce
Motaung has disputed that he is seeking a 50% share in Mhlongo’s assets and said that he, through his lawyers, wrote to Mhlongo and requested his clothes, car, and a share of the money they made from selling their wedding broadcast to Showmax.
Mhlongo did not respond to claims aired in Mohale: On the Record. He is in Mauritius with friends while Motaung is vacations at the Steenberg Wine Farm in Cape Town.
