Durban - Mandla ‘Mampintsha’ Maphumulo was finally arrested on Tuesday after being sought by police for the alleged assault of Bongekile ‘Babes Wodumo’ Simelane.
He was arrested by a special team investigating the matter when he presented himself to the Westville Police Station to lay a counter-charge of assault against his partner.
On Tuesday, on the steps of the Pinetown Magistrate's Court, Maphumulo spoke to the media for 22 minutes, arguing his innocence. He said he was giving his side of the story to “save his career” and had some explosive allegations and remarks about Babes Wodumo, her family, unnamed politicians.
Here are some of the explosive quotes from Mampintsha’s press briefing. The interview was wholly conducted in isiZulu and the quotes below have been translated from what he told reporters.
1 Babes is an abusive, bossy drunk
“Babes cannot handle her alcohol, she drinks too much and she is violent. This has been the case ever since the allegations that I assaulted her last year. Since then, she feels she is untouchable, she became bossy and didn’t want to listen to anyone.
“As you can see I am injured, she attacked me with my crutches and I called her family and they arrived. When they were there she continued to attack me in front of them. I have been putting up with this behaviour for a long time, so I realised that this relationship is no longer what it used to be. If Babes can stop drinking alcohol, she will be fine,” said Mampintsha.
Relaying events of what happened on Sunday night when he was seen assaulting the gqom musician, Mampintsha said: “She arrived at the house at about 12 am, I was sleeping and she hit me and I bust my lip. This is after she came back from wherever she was, she was drunk, she hit me with a Gucci slipper, the hard ones with a sole like a car tyre. So when I stood up and went to the toilet she continued to beat me, I wanted to wash the blood from my mouth and find out what is the matter. This was all happening in the presence of children in the house.
Mampintsha repeated the theme of Babes Wodumo being an alleged violent drunk throughout his press conference, and he claimed the musician's parents and dancers were all aware of her alleged violence.
“Most times when she wants to beat me, I knew that I have to call her family, she would do this in front of people and her dancers and other people. They all know what is happening. So what she was doing with the video she had planned. She knows when she beats me and stomps on me, she fights and she grabs me, she knew I was going to react, I only hit her on the back, I didn’t slap her, you can see I was in my underwear, I was sober,” he said.
2 Babes is out of control
“Her family knows she is not fine when she is drunk, the people we work with know she is a nightmare when she is drunk, go ask anyone, she even beats the drivers we work with when she is drunk, this is well known. She is violent. She takes out her violence on me, and because I have been on the spotlight with allegations of abuse, what am I supposed to do. I have been repeatedly beaten in my house. I cannot stand to be beaten by her, when I report it to her parents they also don’t know what to do. When I hit her on the back, it was to remove her from me,” said Mampintsha.
He added that Babes Wodumo disappeared for days.
“She leaves the house for two, three days (on drinking sprees) and she returns to me. When she enters I leave. When I try to leave the house she pulls me back. Then she fights with cab drivers. Then she provokes me and says I must beat her. I was attacked, she attacked me, she knows that too,” he said.
3 Babes' family don’t want her to have a baby or get married
Mampintsha further alleged that her family didn’t want her to get married as they feared they would not be able to get her to support them if she did.
“Babes is a breadwinner in her family, she is the one that is providing for her family. That is why they don’t want her to get married or for her to get pregnant, I want to be open about this. They think that once she gets pregnant or gets married, she will no longer be able to provide for them. That’s why you also need to look at it from their perspective,” he said.
Mampintsha said the engagement ring he had bought for Babes went missing, allegedly at her family home. He said, jokingly, that he was considering finding another woman to become his housewife, while he and Babes went about their vosho-filled careers.
“Maybe I can have a pretty housewife and also have her (Babes Wodumo) as my vosho girlfriend, I am getting old - but I don't want to make a joke out of this (situation,” he said.
4 I made Babes Wodumo
“Before Babes was famous, I used my own money and I invested in her, to create Babes Wodumo, which is fine and helping someone is important. I raised her profile, when I was being booked, I would put her in as well - #BabesWodumo. So I used muthi on her now when she has money and I didn’t use muthi on her when I was spending my own money investing on her? You need to think about this”.
5 Babes was too drunk to open case at police station
Relaying incidents of the early hours of Monday morning when police had been summoned to the property, Mampintsha said his long-time partner was too drunk for police to take her statement.
“They (the family) called the police and Babes could not even stand she was so drunk. There was a white police officer and a black officer, they said you cannot open a case in this state. Then they started causing a commotion screaming that I should be arrested,” he said.
6 Outside forces at play
“These allegations of abuse are said by people from outside. There are people from outside involved in this, just like the last time. Then people are on the frontlines, but they do not know the full story, they call me a dog, they call me a monster, I am not a monster. I am not crazy.
7 I am not a monster
“I am not a monster, I have been in relationships with people before and I have never been a monster or assaulted anyone, you can go ask them that. So when people say I have her caged here, that is not true, she leaves for two, three days and I don’t know where she is, so how am I trapping her here, you can even ask her parents that. All I tell her is that you cannot be with me when you are this drunk, I feel disrespected, you are the mother of this house.
8 These politicians are sliding in the DMs
“I saw there were some politicians supporting her and they were on TV. These politicians are all over her inbox,” Mampintsha said.
9 I love Babes Wodumo, but ...
“I love Babes Wodumo and I will always love her, the fact that she is acting crazy doesn’t mean I will stop loving her.
“I apologise for beating you (Babes), at the same time, I will also open a case because you also attacked me. People need to know the whole story. But for what happened, I am sorry, may God forgive me,” he said.
10 It's me or the booze, Babes
It’s either you choose me or alcohol, I am tired of her coming home drunk,” he said.