Duban - Feted as a celebrity with his successes on the airwaves and on stage, when Vikash Mathura’s world began to crumble after being accused of fraud and theft, it was a lot to deal with.
“People were merciless. Everybody became the judge and jury,” he recalled. “We were chastised, ridiculed, defamed and mocked.”
At one point, the family - his wife is the equally well-known Jagruthi “JJ”, herself a former Lotus staffer and actress - resorted to consulting with psychologists, psychiatrists and even spiritual healers to rationalise what was happening to them.
“Our cupboards were transformed into a mini-pharmacy that contained antidepressant and anxiety medication,” said Mathura.
“I was hospitalised for a week in 2012 and am on chronic medication for high blood pressure, which was exacerbated by the stress.”
Known for his distinctive voice and for being the co-creator of the Bala & Peru comedy show, he is working at getting his life back on track after he was recently cleared of 14 counts of fraud and theft by the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Unit.
It was a judgment, he said, that was inevitable.
In 2012, Mathura was accused of billing Ellerines Furnishers R630 000 to his personal company, Shasim Entertainment Enterprises CC, for a promotional campaign.
It was a charge he denied from the outset.
He was also dismissed as the group marketing executive at Ellerine Holdings and as a result Mathura and his family endured years of public ridicule and judgment.
“I knew I was innocent and was prepared to go to court to vindicate myself,” said Mathura.
But he was not prepared for how long and traumatic the process would be for himself and his family.
“This case hung over my head like a dark rain cloud for almost six years, from the date of my dismissal. I cannot even begin to describe the emotional trauma my family was forced to endure.”
When the case became public knowledge in 2014, the 46-year-old said both he and his family suffered reputational damage.
“People are always quick to judge. That’s an inherent quality in every human being,” he said. “It’s worse for those who have celebrity or public profiles.”
But his family, he added, were also blessed with the love and support of sincere family and friends and thousands of well-wishers, who have known the couple from their time in the entertainment industry.
When magistrate Brian Venter pronounced Mathura not guilty, Mathura said his wife and their 19-year-old daughter Simran burst into tears of joy and relief.
Venter described the State’s case as “shockingly weak, at best”.
According to his judgment, witness testimonies were contradictory and riddled with lies.
Mathura said he attended court proceedings and was forced to listen to a “pack of lies from misinformed witnesses”.
He added that the legal bills had crippled them financially.
“While the State provided free services to Ellerine Holdings, I had to defend myself at my own cost.
"We had to eventually borrow money from empathetic family and friends to pay for our monthly living expenses because our legal bills had taken all of our resources.”
His wife had to sell her jewellery to make ends meet. They lost insurance policies, ceded their pension, lost out on his provident fund, relinquished shares he owned and lost all of his bonuses.
Mathura said that despite the acquittal, they were still reeling personally from the financial expenses. “It has left us almost destitute.”
Mathura is from Havenside, Chatsworth, and schooled in Shallcross.
He moved to Gauteng in 2000 and now lives in Sandton. He married his wife of 26 years in 1992 and they have two children, Shabadh, 22, and Simran, 19.
Mathura was the highest profile radio DJ on Lotus FM for 22 years and hosted more than 600 concerts.
He was also a television presenter, actor and a voice-over artist and is the group chief executive of JVSS Holdings.
Apart from his list of qualifications, Mathura loves playing golf, watching movies and spending quality time with his family.
“I worked at Lotus FM as a freelance radio presenter from 1992 until I retired from the station in 2014.
“Our Saturday breakfast show (The Weekend Lift Off) was the number one show on the station from 1997 until 2014. We attracted listeners from more than 40 countries,” he recalled.
Mathura as Uncle Bala.
“It was the show that introduced our listeners to various characters, including Harry Mama and Aunty Saras, Om Prakash, The Raj, Madiba, Phookna Mosa and Dollia Mosie, Munna Bhai, Professor Pyarelal, Nine Boy, Aunty Sours, Aunty Pathma and of course, the uncles Peru and Bala.
“I think we are still the only contemporary radio show in history that created fictitious radio characters and then ventured successfully to take many of those characters on to other media platforms such as cartoons, books, CDs, DVDs, merchandise and social media.”
Mathura said that in 2014 when he and co-host Ray Maharaj retired from Lotus FM, “the uncles” (Peru and Bala) were forced to put away their walking sticks.
“They did make a brief reappearance in 2015 in a successful tour, Harry & The Uncles, but the tour had to be cut short because of the legal case I was embroiled in with Ellerine Holdings and the State.”
Mathura said on a professional level, the case had ruined his careers both in the entertainment industry and in the corporate sector.
“After the news of my case broke in the media in August 2014, I eventually ‘retired’ from Lotus FM four months later. I could not continue being the highest profile DJ at the radio station while carrying the cloud of those fraud and theft charges over my head.
“A year later, I stopped all of my concerts and my public appearances. This case forced me to stay off the public radar ever since,” he said.
“In my corporate career, after being dismissed by Ellerine Holdings in July 2012, it took me almost 13 months to find new employment.
"Understandably, all of the big corporations were reluctant to employ me because I had been accused of fraud and theft by my previous employers.”
In August 2013, Mathura was employed as the managing director of Franke Water Heating Systems, a subsidiary of a global Swiss-based multibillion-dollar company.
However, after the media reports about his case surfaced in 2014, Franke executives from Switzerland met with him, stating that they could not risk any negative publicity by having an MD who was embroiled in such a highly publicised legal matter.
“Consequently, in May 2015, I was forced to part ways (amicably) with Franke and found myself unemployed again.”
None of the executive head-hunters would interview him because of the pending fraud and theft charges that would emerge whenever they ran his profile check on Google.
“I was forced to start a business without any money, and I could not attract any financial investors because of the same criminal charges that would appear in my profile check.”
His message to the “armchair critics” was to refrain from believing that they know all of the facts.
“There is always more to what you think you know. People need to clean the dirt from their own eyes before attempting to wash the eyes of others.”
Mathura said he was considering legal options for the reputational damage.
“My attorneys and advocates have already made recommendations to us. Various other people in the legal fraternity have also come forward in a bid to offer their professional advice.
"I will continue to engage with these experts and I will then discuss the options with my family. Thereafter, we will make an informed decision.”
JJ, Shabadh, Simran and Mathura have now embarked on the process of re-building their lives.
“I intend to re-enter the corporate sector, while also focusing on some of the business ventures that I initiated since 2015. My agents are suggesting that I make an immediate return to the entertainment industry.
"But I have always prided myself on being a perfectionist. So whatever choice I make, I will ensure that it is implemented to the best of my ability.”