‘I accept the embarrassment I suffered’ — Mthandeni Manqele recalls being told to ‘voetsek’ off stage

Mthandeni Manqele wants to clear his name after an incident that occurred during his performance at the “Mother of all Maskandi Festivals” in Durban recently. 

Viral footage of the incident shows Mthandeni explaining to fans he needed to end his performance because he had run out of time, followed by Zimdollar, guarded by security, snatching the microphone from him and telling him to “voetsek”.

When explaining the matter, Zimdollar previously claimed the Maskandi star was meant to perform at 7pm but jumped on stage at 9.30pm despite being told by organisers he could no longer perform.

Mthandeni said he was only 30 minutes late, but waited in the car for two hours while his team attempted to negotiate, for an hour, for him to perform after arriving late.

The Maskandi artist said he did not bring his own DJ on stage as speculated. 

“My mistake was being late by about 20-30 minutes. That happens and I always communicate when such happens. I apologise for being late. That was a mistake,” he said.

Though Zimdollar took to her timeline on Tuesday issuing an apology to Ukhozi FM listeners and attendees of the festival, saying she dealt with the matter in an inappropriate manner, Mthandeni went on to issue an apology on her behalf. 

“Let me first apologise on behalf of my sister, to the people who attended the event, and the Zulu nation and South Africa as a whole. When Zimiphi said ‘voetsek’ to me I might have been perceived by some people as a weak, modern Zulu man. I apologise on her behalf for what happened. I have been in the industry for a while and I believe her actions were caused by some kind of pressure she was getting and had to do that.”

Mthandeni said the incident was an attempt to tarnish his name but he wanted his fans to know that he was a man of respect and very friendly. 

“People who are out to taint my image do things that are going to make me angry to a point that I become aggressive. Thereafter they say bad things about me. I am a person who can be soft, I love women and many people know how good I look after my mother. 

“I believe my sister [Zimdollar] was under pressure and that is why I am apologising on her behalf. I accept the embarrassment I suffered and I want to bury the shame. We come from the same place. When people see me humbling myself after what happened, I want them to learn that when a person is doing something which they have been called by God to do, there is disruption that can succeed.”