Since the news of Mbongeni Ngema’s death, fellow celebrities took to their various social media accounts to pay tribute to the playwright.
One of those were Somizi Mhlongo.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, Mhlongo shared an alleged WhatsApp message that had been “sent” to him by the ‘Sarafina!’ star.
Ngema thanked the former ‘Idols SA’ judge for always being there for him “without any provocation or me asking for help.”
He also made mention of Mhlongo being the “only one of all the hundreds of my children who stepped forward for me."
It didn’t take long for online sleuths to take a deeper dive and discover that the text message wasn’t sent from the late singer and theatre producer.
Soon, Mhlongo’s comments section was inundated with people calling him out, resulting in the reality TV star deleting the post.
But the internet always remembers, and screenshots of the deleted post made it onto X.
Why is Somizi sending himself WhatsApp texts and pretending they are from Mbongeni Ngema 👀 pic.twitter.com/KWW6fBk31u
— 🦍 (@Tdker) December 28, 2023
“Lmaooooo!!!! That message was not even delivered,🧐🙈 and this screenshot implies that it was taken by the sender (Mbongani) ; not the receiver! 😭😭🤣🤣
“Somizi really texted himself on some,” remarked an X user.
Another joked: “What if Mbongeni’s spirit took Somizi’s phone and texted?”
With no mention of the deleted Instagram post, it was business as usual for Mhlongo who then posted about his upcoming gig at the Durban ICC.
But fans didn’t forget as easily and they trolled his comments section once again.
“You folded? We glad thou coz that was Embarrassing... Why text your selft kodwa .. what was the main reason? Mmh I'm asking you wena Celebrity death ambassador!,” commented @witness_mk.
In the meantime, the Eastern Cape forensic pathology services have concluded an autopsy on Ngema and released his body to his family in KwaZulu-Natal.
IOL Entertainment