Mampintsha has not yet opened case against Babes Wodumo, say cops

05 March 2019 - 17:55 By Lwandile Bhengu
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Mandla "Mampintsha" Maphumulo addresses the media outside the Pinetown Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
Mandla "Mampintsha" Maphumulo addresses the media outside the Pinetown Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
Image: Thuli Dlamini

Durban musician Mandla "Mampintsha" Maphumulo has not yet opened a case against gqom singer Babes Wodumo.

Moments after he was released on R2,000 bail after being charged with the assault of his long-time girlfriend, Mampintsha told journalists outside the Pinetown Magistrate's Court on Tuesday that he had opened a counter-case of assault against the singer, whose real name is Bongekile Simelane.

In his address, Mampintsha made reference to an "OB", which is the occurrence book found in the charge rooms of police stations. 

However, national police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo denied that Mampintsha had opened a case against Wodumo.

Mampintsha's lawyer, Pat Magwaza, later clarified the issue to TimesLIVE: "We were at Westville police station to open a case of assault and check if my client had a case against him when police from a provincial task team came and interrupted the process, so we did not complete it."

Magwaza said he and his client would complete the initial process of opening the case against Babes "in the next hour".

Mampintsha turned himself in earlier in the day after a video of a man - believed to be him - was shared live on Wodumo's Instagram page during the early hours of Monday morning. In the video, the man can be seen assaulting the singer several times.

"After the incident I went to the hotel and slept. It was at 4:30am today when I realised I was in the news and people were saying all these bad things about me," he told journalists.

Mampintsha will be back in court on May 15.

Durban musician Mandla Maphumulo, popularly known as Mampintsha, appeared briefly in the Pinetown Magistrate's Court on Tuesday March 5 2019.


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